US aircraft carrier collides with cargo ship off Egypt coast
WASHINGTON − A U.S. aircraft carrier collided with a cargo ship Wednesday evening in the eastern Mediterranean Sea near Port Said, Egypt, the service's Sixth Fleet announced.
The USS Harry S. Truman did not suffer flooding, damage to its nuclear-powered engines, or injuries to its crew, according to the fleet. Port Said, the nearest port to where the collision occurred, is at the northern end of the Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea.
The other ship involved in the collision, the Panama-flagged merchant vessel Besiktas-M, is a Panama-flagged bulk cargo carrier, according to the online VesselFinder database. Its status, and that of its crew, is unclear. The ship transited the canal in the hours before the collision.
The Navy did not provide further details about the incident, which it said "is under investigation."
The carrier, which operates out of Norfolk, Va., has a crew and additional units that total roughly 5,000 sailors and Marines.
The Navy considers its eleven aircraft carriers to be the centerpiece of how it protects U.S. interests around the world. Each of the massive ships forms the nucleus of a multi-ship "carrier strike group" that patrol the world's waterways.