Two naval ships collided in what amounts to an aquatic fender bender except for the thousands and thousands of gallons of diesel fuel in the waters off Bahrain.
The USS Hartford, a nuclear-powered submarine based out of Groton, and the USS New Orleans, an amphibious ship based out of San Diego, collided around 5 p.m. Thursday night between Iran and the Arabian peninsula, the AP is reporting.
The crash happened at night and the USS Hartford was submerged at the time, Navy officials said, but that he could give no further details as the collision is still under investigation.
Both vessels are now heading to port for repairs and evaluation when they collided.
The 15 sailors aboard the Hartford were mildly injured, but soon went back to duty shortly after. No one was injured on the New Orleans.
The New Orleans’ fuel tank was ruptured, dumping over 25,000 gallons of diesel fuel into the water.
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.
