Newly released imagery provides a clearer view of the damage sustained by the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) after its collision with the merchant vessel Besiktas-M in the eastern Mediterranean.

According to U.S. Navy officials, the incident took place at around 11:46 p.m. local time on February 12, near Port Said, Egypt — a heavily trafficked area adjacent to the entrance of the Suez Canal.

Though the newly available photos show dents and scrapes along the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier’s hull, Navy spokesperson Commander Tim Gorman reported that “the propulsion plants are unaffected and in a safe and stable condition.” He confirmed there were no injuries or flooding onboard following the collision and emphasised that the ship remains fully operational.

Port Said sits at the northern end of the Suez Canal, making it one of the world’s most significant transit points for both merchant and naval vessels. With high traffic volume and tight navigation channels, even a momentary lapse in situational awareness can increase the risk of collision. In this instance, investigators are examining how a vessel as large as a Nimitz-class carrier — which measures over 300 metres in length — came into contact with a commercial ship.

While the USS Harry S. Truman’s size offers substantial protection from external impacts, the situation also highlights the importance of coordination and vigilance, especially in strategic chokepoints like the Suez Canal.

The U.S. Navy has launched a formal inquiry into the circumstances behind the incident, a process that typically involves reviewing radar logs, bridge recordings, lookout reports, and communication transcripts. “More information will be released as it becomes available,” Commander Gorman stated.

Though no official timeline for completion has been provided, investigations of this nature commonly aim to determine fault, assess procedural shortcomings, and recommend potential policy changes to prevent future incidents.

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George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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39 COMMENTS

      • Beat me to it. The new US Govt has certainly not had a good record on accidents presently, what is it 6 in the air and now this. Must be all those blind pilots and Sea Captains they inherited from Biden I guess.

        • Haha, funny comment. I wonder if they current administration lay off the nuclear powerplant engineers like they did for their powerplants on the mainland. They don’t need any such engineers taking all that money.

  2. How was a civilian ship allowed to get so close to a US aircraft carrier? I always considered them as no-go areas. So all traffic gets stopped to let them pass. What if the civilian ship had been a floating bomb. Seems like a serious security failure.

    • Why not take a look at where it happened ? Apparently it was in the Vicinity of Port Said, It’s rather a busy old place for shipping entering and exiting Suez.

    • it happened in the middle of a traffic jam of ships waiting to enter the suez canal. there are dozens/hundreds of cargo ships in that immediate area waiting for their turn while other ships navigate through. its really not uncommon for them to swap paint sometimes. the last time i can see it happening to a carrier was in 2004 in the persian gulf.

    • The carrier had its transponder turned off whilst transiting through the exit channel of the Suez Canal, Don’t think you can blame the merchant ship for this one!

    • Have to say that before Britain worked out that a nuclear bomb was somewhat smaller, more feasible and devastating than had previously been thought ie merchant ship size to blow up a port, that such a thing was thus totally impractical and fundamentally pointless, a thought generally and understandably shared back then. Seems we might need to re think such a thing, certainly where the yank carriers are concerned. No doubt Iran will rubbing its chin.

  3. Expect a loss of confidence and a change in command, soon.

    On USNI YouTube, interesting video on celestial navigation of an Assault Ship to Guam!
    .. perhaps, the bridge team need to go back to school.

        • Or as the orange one would say merely ‘common sense’ eh. Bit like drinking bleach or shining lethal doses of ultra-violet light to kill covid. Looking with a semblance of equal common sense, at the time line I guess the Captain, First Officer and helmsman would have been promoted or recruited from a homeless hostel during Biden’s presidency and progressed up the ranks by a blind committee of LGBT Admirals to make your comment make sense commonly or otherwise. I expect Trump is having his usual unsurprisingly young and attractive spokeswoman to work up a statement to such effect as we talk.

      • Hiya Wes, I know opinions lay between knowledge and ignorance, I think mine are more closer to the former, but I don’t really care. ❤️☮️

        • After that one where truth has no meaning to you I reckon you are indeed Donny and I claim my Doge bitcoin either way equally worthless in having any value. 🇺🇸🚀🤪

          • My reply is at the bottom of the page sits, sorry mate I’m so clever I can’t work this bleedin’ system 🤷😀
            Before I go though I will say…
            Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men and weak men create hard times.
            🫶✌️

          • Hiya Airborne,
            Maybe sometimes I care, but not today, peace has broken out in Europe don’t ya know, inspite of the warmongering European political imbeciles.
            Blessed are the peacemakers. ♾️❤️☮️

    • exactly what i was thinking. russia/china could take a carrier out of commission for a while by ‘accidentally’ ramming a giant cargo ship into it around one of these chokepoints. “we lost steering” — would the US/UK consider it an act of war AND actually retaliate because of it? i wonder if its even worth the QE using these canals- how much extra time is going the long way around africa?

      • Donny would ring Putin and offer to pay the cost of damage to the Merchant ship… as long as he keeps those photos in the safe. 🤐

    • Panama.

      According USNI the Besiktas-M is a 53,000tons deadweight 550ft (188m) in length bulk carrier so not huge but definitely a tad bigger than a rowing boat. 🙂

      Ownership: “It’s unclear who owns and manages the ship.” Hmm, pause for thought if Russia has anything to do with this ship things might get very interesting indeed… The US is very sensitive about its super carriers.

      Cheers CR

    • There is also an AIS track for the Besiktas-M on the USNI article. The leaves the port and the proceeds on a northerly course until she makes a hard left turn. Probably having just hit the carrier, or being hit by the carrier? No picture of the damage to Besiktas-M so can’t say much about it.

      According to ClassNK website(?) the Besiktas-M:

      Registered Owner 1 : BLACK HAWK SHIPPING LTD.
      Management Company 1 : SYNERGY SHIP MANAGEMENT TURKIYE PTE. LTD.

      According to TradeWinds website:

      The Besiktas-M is listed as owned and commercially managed by Black Hawk Shipping, a Marshall Islands entity with only one ship to its name, according to the Equasis database.

      So looks like no Russian involvement… Marshall Islands are very close to the US – a dependency I think.

      Cheers CR

    • Musk probably, no doubt cheaper than insuring Cybertrucks from self driving visits to lamp posts.Always said they were dogs. 💨

  8. At least the US Navy has seaworthy ships. Unlike the Royal Navy which has to stay in port lest they risk sinking due to rust holes in the hull

  9. Hiya sits
    with all the propaganda and public enlightenment about the truth is apparently what your feelings tell you it is.
    I don’t know what a donny doge coin is, but lately a lot of worthless opinions are floating around, the European politcal warmongers for example where the truth means nada.
    Blessed are the peacemakers. ♾️❤️☮️

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