Sunday, March 22, 2009

Nuclear Submarine Damaged in Collision Near Iran

A nuclear submarine was damaged in a collision with another U.S. Navy vessel off the coast of Iran early Friday, leaving 15 U.S. sailors injured and 25,000 gallons of fuel spilling into the Strait of Hormuz.

The USS Hartford, a nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine, was fully submerged Friday when it collided with the transport ship the USS New Orleans, according to a Navy official in the 5th Fleet. Seas were calm but visibility was low as the incident occurred around 1:00 a.m. local time.

No official reason has been given for the accident but a Defense Department official told FOX News that "it appears the two vessels were not in communication before they collided."

Fifteen sailors aboard the Hartford were slightly injured but able to return to duty. No injuries were reported aboard the New Orleans, according to the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet. It was the Los Angeles-class submarine's first deployment.

There was no damage to the nuclear reactor powering the Hartford, said Lt. Nate Christensen, spokesman for the 5th Fleet, but the collision ruptured one of the many fuel tanks of the USS New Orleans. Officials say there are no real plans yet for cleaning up the 25,000 gallons of diesel fuel that have spilled into the Persian Gulf.

Both ships were heading to port when the incident occurred. Navy officials said it did not appear that the sub was surfacing at the time of the incident. Officials could not say how deep the water was at the point of impact.

Both vessels are currently operating under their own power and heading to port for repairs and evaluation, but Christensen said that following standard security procedures he could not say where the vessels were heading.

The Navy said both ships were on regularly scheduled deployments to the region and conducting security operations.

Oil prices rose after news of the collision which happened in a busy shipping route.

As much as 17 million barrels of oil a day went through the narrow strait in the first half of 2008, or about 40 percent of all seaborne traded oil or 20 percent of all oil traded globally.

The Hartford is based in Groton, Conn. and the New Orleans is based in San Diego, Calif., the Navy said.

FOX News' Justin Fishel and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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This story is an important piece of AirmanMom's life; since my Hubster will be involved in the follow-up of this accident. May Almighty God fully heal those who were injured.

14 comments:

MightyMom said...

remind me what hubster does??

hubby will be interested in this..he was on fast attacks for most of his career.

Midlife, menopause, mistakes and random stuff... said...

Our prayers are with the injured and blessings to the Hubster who will be follwoing up on this tragedy.
Your post are always such an inspiration Airman Mom :)

Steady On
Reggie Girl

Unknown said...

mm...thanks for stopping by! Hubster was enlisted Navy (once upon a time) and now is a civilian working for Dept. of Navy.

Unknown said...

rg...your comments are always so deeply appreciated!!!!

Debbie said...

Gosh, I hadn't heard about this. I'll keep them in my prayers and am so thankful no one was killed. This could have been catastrophic!

Hope Hubster will get to the bottom of this to keep it from happening again...

Denise said...

I heard about that..... scary stuff.. My sweet DH follows all this news and then tells me..... I stopped listening to the news the night of the election..... call me silly but I know that this nation has made a grave mistake and we are already seeing the repercussions...... Soooooooo my hubby is my news source........

Have a blessed day

Mike Golch said...

I saw this on the news.May God healt the injured and Bless the crews of both ships.

Unknown said...

debbie...it is a blessing nobody was seriously injured!

Unknown said...

denise...I fully understand your need not to listen to the news these days. This item I was told of first hand, I too am not listening to the news as much...I guess we're living the news!

Unknown said...

mike...amen!!!

Michelle said...

Hey AM, There is a pic of Hallie and me on her fb. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=81748&id=522671646&saved#/profile.php?id=503370421&v=wall&viewas=522671646
We were just talking so much and no time for pics.
And yes, you are on my blogger list as well. And Debbie, Ness, Kim-D, and too many to name them all.

Unknown said...

michelle...it sounds as though you and Hallie had such a nice time meeting each other!!! There are so very many wonderful people in the blogosphere to meet!!!!!

Call Me Grandma said...

My prayers go out to all involved.

Unknown said...

grandma...amen