Dubai: A US nuclear-powered submarine collided with a Japanese crude oil tanker in the busy shipping lanes of the Straits of Hormuz, the US Navy and Japanese government said on Tuesday. No one was seriously injured.
Damage to the fast-attack USS Newport News submarine and the supertanker was light and there was no resulting spill of oil or leakage of nuclear fuel, officials from US Navy, Japanese and Emirates government said.
Both ships remained able to navigate, Navy officials said.
The bow of the nuclear-powered Newport News was travelling submerged when it hit the stern of the supertanker Mogamigawa as the vessels were passing through the Straits last night, causing minor damage to the Japanese vessel, the US Navy and Japan's Foreign Ministry said.
The Japanese government said it was informed of the crash by the Navy and the US Embassy in Tokyo.
The tanker, operated by Japanese shipping company Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd, was able to continue to a nearby port in the United Arab Emirates, the statement said.
Commander Kevin Aandahl of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet in Bahrain confirmed there had been a crash and that there were no injuries aboard either ship. Aandahl said the sub had surfaced and its crew was evaluating damage.
The Navy said the ship's nuclear propulsion plant was undamaged. The Newport News is based in Groton, Connecticut, and is part of a US-led multinational task force patrolling the Persian Gulf and nearby seas. It has a crew of 127.
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