In what has been described as a rare and unprecedented incident, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier of the US Navy— USS Harry S. Truman—collided with a monster cargo ship with a displacement roughly comparable to that of the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning.
The collision took place in the vicinity of Port Said, Egypt, in the Mediterranean Sea. “The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) was involved in a collision with the merchant vessel Besiktas-M at approximately 11:46 p.m. local time, Feb. 12, while operating in the vicinity of Port Said, Egypt, in the Mediterranean Sea,” the US Navy said in a statement on February 13.
The heavy cargo ship has been identified as Besiktas-M, a Panamanian-flagged bulk cargo ship. Independent ship trackers noted that the cargo ship was en route from the port of Aqaba in Jordan to Constanta in Romania when the collision happened.
The collision occurred between two monster ships: the 53,000-ton Beskitas-M and the 100,000-ton US Navy aircraft carrier.
For perspective, the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning has a displacement of about 54,500 tons, the Indian Aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya has a displacement of about 45,400 tons, the French aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle has a displacement of about 42,500 tons, and Russia’s ‘defunct’ aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov has a displacement of 53,000 tons.
The USS Harry S. Truman did not suffer grave damage despite enduring a collision with such a heavy ship. According to reports, there has been no flooding and no injuries to the 5,000 crew stationed aboard the carrier. Moreover, Truman’s propulsion plants remained untouched and were in “a safe and stable condition.”
However, the collision has caused a furor on social media, with netizens flagging the incident as a serious security breach. “Will the Captain of the USS Harry S. Truman get fired? Yes, probably. He is 100% responsible for everything aboard ship—no excuses,” said John Konrad V, the CEO of the gCaptain maritime news on social media site X.
Some others lamented the incident as a dent to the USS Harry S. Truman’s reputation while drawing attention to a recent incident in which a US Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet from USS Harry S. Truman was accidentally shot down by the guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg in December 2024. The 4.5-acre flight deck of USS Harry S. Truman can hold 90 aircraft, including F/A-18F Super Hornet jets.
Several netizens have questioned the captain of the USS Harry S. Truman. One netizen who goes by the name Dr Clayton Forrester wrote: “What if the ship that collided with the USS Harry S. Truman was manned by terrorists and packed with explosives? The Captain’s incompetence in allowing it so close could have gotten his crew killed and humiliated the US.”
The above concerns are not unfounded and are based on past horrors.
In October 2000, a US-guided warship, USS Cole, was refueling at a port in Yemen when it was approached by a small boat carrying explosives and two Al Qaeda suicide bombers.
The boat exploded near USS Cole, killing 17 crew members and injuring about 39. The incident came to be known as the Cole Bombing and remains the deadliest terror attack on a US vessel.
It is very rare for aircraft carriers to sail near commercial ships because they typically sail with a strike group composed of destroyers and cruisers that place the carrier at the center. However, in this particular incident, the carrier strike group was supposed to transit the Suez Canal, the waterway connecting the Mediterranean and Red Seas.
Since the Suez Canal is a narrow waterway about 205 meters wide, all the vessels of the CSG have to transit this channel in a single file.
While details about how the merchant ship came so close to the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier are not known at this point, the US Navy has launched an investigation.
Indian Navy Commodore (R) Anil Jai Singh told EurAsian Times: “It’s a very surprising development. Aircraft carriers usually sail in company, so a merchant ship colliding with it is unusual. Even if the carrier was sailing alone, two big ships should have been sailing well clear of each other. There are specific regulations called ‘Rules of the Road’, which ships must adhere to when in radar or visual contact with each other to ensure navigational safety. The inquiry will reveal what actually happened.”
Commenting on the accident, Sal Mercogliaono, a renowned maritime historian and mariner, said that the US vessels were not using their Automatic Identification System (AIS) at the time of the collision even though “they were supposed to be using it when they were in traffic.”
He also assessed the damage to the merchant vessel on X, saying: “It appears that Besiktas M hit the Truman with her starboard bow. Note the mooring line cable spool sheared off and the damage to the forward starboard hatch coaming. This damage may indicate that Besiktas came under the deck overhang of Truman.”
Additionally, Carl Schuster, a former US Navy captain and Hawaii Pacific University professor, told CNN that there isn’t much room for error in such circumstances. Small navigational errors, a misinterpretation of the other ship’s objectives, or a delay in decision-making by either ship’s crew could have swiftly placed them in peril “with very few viable options.”
“There is not a lot of room for maneuvering in a restricted seaway, and both ships require about one nautical mile to stop,” Schuster said.
Collisions between military and civilian vessels are not entirely unprecedented. Last month, for instance, a Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker named “50 Let Pobedy” (also known as 50 Years of Victory) collided with a cargo vessel in the Kara Sea.
Separately, an Indian Navy’s Scorpene-class submarine collided with a fishing vessel off the coast of Goa in November 2024. Moreover, there have been several incidents of collisions between US Navy vessels and civilian ships.
However, the last time a US carrier suffered a collision was more than two decades ago when, on July 22, 2004, the old USS John F. Kennedy was struck by a dhow, a sailing vessel that is common in the Middle East.
The latest incident has generated so much frenzy because US aircraft carriers are nuclear-powered, and a collision can quickly turn catastrophic, especially when it happens against a gargantuan ship like Besikstas-M. The USS Harry S. Truman is powered by two nuclear reactors and four propulsion systems.
Fortunately, the US Navy assessed that the carrier was “not endangered by the collision.” The extent of damage is currently being assessed, and the Navy will release more information later.
Truman Carrier Has Been At The Forefront Against Houthis
After 50 days in the Red Sea under the US Central Command (USCENTCOM), USS Harry S. Truman transited through the Suez Canal to enter the Mediterranean Sea on February 3. The carrier strike group made a port call in Souda Bay, Greece, on February 6, USNI News reported.
Upon the carrier’s arrival at Naval Support Activity Souda Bay on the Greek island of Crete, Rear Adm. Sean Bailey, the strike group’s commander, issued a statement stating, “The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group remains the most adaptable and lethal presence in the theater. This port visit provides the opportunity to reset and focus on maintenance for maximum readiness ahead of future operations.”
The ceasefire in Gaza, which has been in effect since January 19, made the port visit possible.
The carrier has been in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility since December 14, when the Turman arrived with the USS Jason Dunham, the guided-missile destroyer USS Stout, and the guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg. The group has since carried out “multiple self-defense strikes” against the Houthis in Yemen. U.S. Fleet Forces Command said the strike group had conducted airstrikes against ISIS in Somalia on February 1.
In the days preceding the ceasefire’s implementation, the Houthis claimed to have escalated their targeting of American forces. They reported eight drone and missile attacks on the Truman.
The Yemen-based militia said that the carrier group was compelled by the strikes to leave the theater of operations. However, these attacks have not been acknowledged by the US CENTCOM even though it has regularly reported shooting down of hostile drones and missiles coming from Yemen.
As the ceasefire came into effect last month, a Houthi spokesperson announced that following “the cessation of aggression on the Gaza Strip,” the Yemeni-based organization would stop targeting ships that are owned, operated, and registered by the US and the UK as of January 19.
However, the US carrier group has not been called back by the US as cracks appear in the fragile ceasefire due to disagreements between Israel and Hamas.
- Contact the author at sakshi.tiwari9555 (at) gmail.com
- Follow EurAsian Times on Google News
