In footage, a US Navy destroyer can be seen careering into the side of a supply ship during an operation-gone-wrong – two sailors were injured in the incident this week
The hair-raising moment a US Navy destroyer collided with a supply ship was caught in startling footage.
The footage from on board the USNS Supply shows alarmed sailors scattering as the USS Truxtun, a 160 metre-long destroyer weighing 9,200 tons, heading for its side. Waves can be seen being thrown up as the two ships collide, tipping the destroyer to one side.
Two people were injured in the collision, according to US Southern Command, which is responsible for US operations in Central America, South America and the Caribbean. Both sailors were reported to be in a stable condition after sustaining only minor injuries. The exact site of the incident is unclear, but reports indicate it took place near South America. Both vessels were able to sail safely away.
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The exact cause of the crash is now under investigation, but the incident unfolded when the supply ship was refuelling the cruiser USS Gettysburg on one side and the Truxtun approached from the other side, according to a US official familiar with the collision. US Southern Command announced that the Truxtun and the Supply collided as the warship was receiving a fresh batch of supplies.
This type of manoeuvre typically has the vessels sailing parallel, usually within hundreds of feet, while fuel and supplies are transferred across the gap via hoses and cables.
The USS Truxtun is a recent addition to the large naval presence in the Caribbean that stands at 12 ships, including the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, and several amphibious assault ships carrying thousands of marines.
The Republican administration built up the largest military presence in the region in generations before carrying out a series of deadly strikes on alleged drug boats since September, seizing sanctioned oil tankers and conducting a surprise raid that captured Venezuela’s then-president Nicolas Maduro.
The USS Truxtun left its home port in Norfolk, Virginia, on February 3.
The destroyer had to return to port for several days to conduct “an emergent equipment repair” and it ultimately set sail for the Caribbean on February 6, according to a navy official.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the collision, which is rare for warships.
The US Navy’s most recent collision occurred in February 2025 when the aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman collided with a merchant vessel just outside the Suez Canal near Port Said, Egypt. That resulted in minor damage to the Truman but no injuries.
An investigation released in December revealed that as the aircraft carrier was running behind schedule, the officer navigating the ship drove it at an unsafely high speed.
As a merchant ship moved into a collision path with the carrier, the officer in charge did not take enough action to move out of danger and the ship was also travelling so fast that it would have needed almost a mile-and-a-half to come to a stop after halting the engines, the report found.
This week, the US military also reported a Marine died after falling overboard.
Lance Corporal Chukwuemeka E. Oforah, 21, from Florida, had fallen from the USS Iwo Jima amphibious assault ship, the Marine Corps said in a press release. The military used five Navy ships, 10 aircraft and an Air Force Reaper drone in “an extensive, around-the-clock 72-hour search and rescue operation,” the release said, but he was declared dead Tuesday.
It appears to be the first publicly announced death of a service member during the US military operation in the region.
