The USS Hartford, a nuclear-powered attack submarine named after Connecticut's capital city, was damaged during an early-morning collision with another U.S. naval vessel in the narrow Strait of Hormuz between Iran and the Arabian peninsula, the Navy reported.
The Navy said the incident, involving the amphibious ship USS New Orleans, occurred Thursday at about 1 a.m. local time, or 5 p.m Eastern Standard Time. Fifteen sailors aboard the Hartford were slightly injured but able to return to duty, the Navy said. No injuries were reported aboard the New Orleans.
There was no damage to the Hartford's atomic propulsion system. The Navy said the New Orleans, designed to land U.S. Marine Corps forces, experienced a ruptured fuel tank, resulting in a diesel fuel spill of 25,000 gallons.
The Navy said that after the collision, both ships were operating under their own power and were headed to undisclosed locations for repair and evaluation.
Both ships were heading to port and moving in the same direction when the collision occurred in one of the world's busiest and most dangerous shipping lanes. The Navy said the Hartford was submerged at the time, but it is withholding further detail pending investigation.
Both ships were involved in regularly scheduled deployments to the region and were conducting security operations, the Navy said. The Navy does not detail ship deployments for security reasons, but in the past submarines transiting the Strait have typically been involved in protecting naval fleet operations, protecting commercial shipping and supporting U.S. troops in Iraq and elsewhere.
The Strait of Hormuz is in a heavily traveled choke point 34 miles across at its narrowest connecting the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. About 40 percent of globally traded oil leaves the Gulf region through the Strait, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. One of U.S. Central Command's key missions in the Gulf region is to ensure the free flow of oil and energy supplies.
The USS Hartford is an attack submarine of the Los Angeles class whose keel was laid by in Groton in February 1992 by the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics. She was launched in 1993 and is berthed at the U.S. Naval Submarine Base in Groton.
In October 2003, the Hartford ran aground near La Maddalena in Sardinia with sufficient force to cause substantial damage to her rudders, sonar and electronics.
The submarine is the second ship to be named after Hartford. The first was a sail and steam-powered sloop of war commissioned in 1859. The first Hartford served initially as flag ship of the U.S. Navy's East India Squadron.
Upon the outbreak of the Civil War, the original Hartford became Adm. David Farragut's flagship in the Western Gulf of Mexico Blockading Squadron. It entered history during the Civil War battle of Mobile Bay when Farragut issued the order now remembered as the battle cry "Damn the torpedoes … full speed ahead."
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