On Wednesday, February 12, the US aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) collided with a merchant ship in the northern area of the Suez Canal. The latest photos released by the US military show some damage to the aircraft carrier’s hull from the collision.
The US Navy’s Sixth Fleet Public Affairs office said in a statement earlier that, “The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman collided with the merchant vessel Besiktas-M on the evening of February 12 local time, while the carrier was operating in the Mediterranean waters near Port Said, Egypt.”
According to a report by USNI News on February 14, two Navy officials stated that the bow of the cargo ship Besiktas-M collided with the starboard side of the Truman, causing a small crack above the waterline on the carrier’s side.
Additionally, the US Navy released a photo on Friday, February 14, showing damage to the buoyancy chamber at the rear of the aircraft elevator on the carrier’s starboard side.
As of Friday, the aircraft carrier was navigating in the eastern Mediterranean and planned to enter port for a damage assessment and repairs.
The Sixth Fleet stated, “The collision did not jeopardize the safety of the Truman, with no reports of leaks or casualties. The propulsion system was not affected and remains in a safe and stable condition.”
It is currently unclear how long the repair process will take, but US officials have expressed the goal of restoring the Truman for deployment. The carrier, along with the escort ship USS Jason Dunham (DDG-109) and other accompanying vessels of the Truman Carrier Strike Group, was operating in the Red Sea before heading to the eastern Mediterranean, intending to visit the US Naval Support Activity port in Souda Bay, Greece.
Later on Wednesday evening, the Truman carrier was waiting outside Port Said in Egypt to pass through the Suez Canal to return to the Red Sea. Based on the AIS ship tracks before the collision, the cargo ship Besiktas-M already passed through the Suez Canal and was heading towards the port of Constanta in Romania on the Black Sea. The Besiktas-M measures over 550 feet long and has a carrying capacity of 53,000 tons.
Former Military Sealift Command (MSC) personnel and history associate professor at Campbell University, Sal Mercogliano, informed USNI News on Friday that the locations of the damage suggest that both vessels were maneuvering in a busy anchorage area north of Port Said to avoid each other.
“The damage on the Truman and the images taken from the Besiktas show the collision, with the starboard bow of the cargo ship colliding with the starboard quarter of the Truman,” he said.
“What we don’t know is whether the bow of the cargo ship impacted the hull of the Truman, and the extent of damage to the Truman’s elevator and hull.”
The Truman deployed last September and this was its final deployment before moving to Newport News Shipbuilding for a mid-life refueling overhaul.
The US Navy statement emphasized that the Truman carrier provides extensive versatile mission capabilities, including maritime security operations, expeditionary force projection, forward naval presence, crisis response, maritime control, deterrence, counter-terrorism, information operations, and security cooperation.
The statement further mentioned, “The carrier’s embarked air wing is capable of projecting tactical air power at sea and inland, providing maritime, surface, and subsurface defense capabilities.”