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A U.S. Navy submarine collides with an underwater object in the South China Sea

The USS Connecticut, seen near the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in 2016, collided on Oct. 2 with an unspecified underwater object in international waters in the South China Sea.
Thiep Van Nguyen II
/
AP
The USS Connecticut, seen near the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in 2016, collided on Oct. 2 with an unspecified underwater object in international waters in the South China Sea.

A U.S. nuclear-powered submarine struck an unidentified object in international waters in the South China Sea last week, the Navy said Thursday, in an incident that injured nearly a dozen sailors.

In a brief statement emailed to NPR, the U.S. 7th Fleet said that the USS Connecticut, a Seawolf-class fast attack submarine commissioned more than two decades ago, was in a "safe and stable" condition after the Oct. 2 collision.

A Defense Department official told NPR that about 11 sailors sustained moderate to minor injuries in the incident.

The Navy's statement said the boat's nuclear propulsion plant was not affected by the collision. "The extent of damage to the remainder of the submarine is being assessed," the 7th Fleet said.

The statement did not say exactly where the underwater collision took place, only that it was in "international waters."

Officials quoted by The Associated Press said that it wasn't clear what the Connecticut had struck but that it was not another submarine.

The 7th Fleet's statement said that the Navy had "not requested assistance," while a DOD official quoted by USNI News said the submarine had steamed to Guam "on the surface." A U.S. official confirmed to NPR that the Connecticut had arrived in port.

The last time a U.S. submarine is known to have struck an underwater object was in 2005, when the USS San Francisco hit a seamount, or underwater mountain, near Guam while traveling at full speed.

The sailors aboard were thrown as far as 20 feet by the impact, and the majority of the 137 aboard were injured in the incident, with one killed.

A subsequent investigation determined that the submarine's charts of the seafloor did not show the seamount.

NPR's Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman contributed to this report.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Scott Neuman is a reporter and editor, working mainly on breaking news for NPR's digital and radio platforms.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

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