Posted on 02/12/2026 6:23:58 AM PST by BenLurkin
A US Navy warship collided into a Navy supply vessel during a refuel operation, the US military's Southern Command confirmed to the BBC.
Two people reported minor injuries during Wednesday's replenishment-at-sea operation, Southern Command said, and are in stable condition.
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The exact location of the crash between the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Truxtun and the Supply-class fast combat support ship USNS Supply was not immediately clear.
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The exact location of the crash between the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Truxtun and the Supply-class fast combat support ship USNS Supply was not immediately clear.
The USNS Supply ship has been operating in the Caribbean, according to the Wall Street Journal, which is part of Southern Command's area of responsibility. Southern Command is also responsible for parts of the South Atlantic and the South Pacific.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Nimitz was an astonishingly capable man. When you understand what he did and how he did it, it was no surprise the lead ship of the largest and most powerful warship class ever to steam was named after him.
Just a remarkable man. Great leader.
I suspect that except in dead calm oceans, doing this while heaved to (motionless) would be far more hazardous to currents, winds and waves, and would be impossible if it were anything other than a dead calm. Making headway would lessen that risk as the vessels can make adjustments to maintain formation that are simply not possible when stopped.
(NOTE: I was Aviation...never stood a bridge watch!) so others on this forum can correct me-I may be wet on this but I think I am somewhat on target here)
Tactically, in a condition of conflict or warfare, warships are slow in comparison to other forms of travel, and stopping to refuel is a waste of time...and lost time in warfare can result in loss of life or defeat in battle.
Stopped ships are torpedo magnets.
I always had a great deal of admiration for you guys in Tin Cans...
When I was up in the North Atlantic above the Arctic Circle in 1976 on the JFK, it was a beautiful, frigid late October day, the water was a beautiful emerald green, and the wind whipped up the surface so it was uniformly white and frothy with specks of emerald green showing through it.
Nobody was allowed on deck (and we sure couldn’t fly) and all the planes had 24 point tiedowns. Me and two of my buddies wanted to see what it looked like at the bow, so we went out in the catwalk (keeping our heads down so they couldn’t see us from the bridge)
I looked off the starboard side, and saw one of our escorts on station several hundred yards abeam of us, the bow was taking green water, then you could see the screws come out, and the whole time, the ship was rolling and yawing at the same time..
It was one of those old Knox class, and it was plunging into the ocean, huge waves of solid green water running aft down each side of the superstructure, while the screw came out of the water and you could see the damn thing going chug-chug-chug-chug-chug until it went back into the water, and the bow came up out of the water. And the whole time, that thing was corkscrewing though the water.
It was the first time I had ever seen weather like that, and a ship making its way though that ocean. I recall thinking it must be absolutely insane inside that tumbling vessel-how the hell could someone even take a piss in that, never mind eat, or even sleep!
We looked down from the catwalk, and we saw the white and green water through those now seemingly flimsy strips of metal that made up the catwalk we crouched on, and we watched the big bow of the carrier come ponderously up out of the water, and TONS and TONS of water cascaded off of it looking like Niagra Falls...it was stunningly unbelievable to me,, as I had no frame of reference for that! Then the ship paused at the peak of its upward motion, almost as if it was in super slow motion, and that bow went back into the water-very slowly and ponderously at first on the downward stroke, then faster and faster as it plowed into the water...the only thing I can compare it to is that picture of the North Sea lighthouse with the wave crashing around it....
As the bow accelerated into the greenish water, it looked like the whole bow of the carrier was going to submerge the way the bow entered the water and kept going...the three off us hurriedly retreated back into the ship, stepping on each other and leaving footprints on each others backs trying to get through the hatch!
Needless to say, we weren’t in any danger. No way the bow was even close to going under, but it sure didn’t look that way to us. Without a doubt, that was the most vivid memory I have of all the time I spent at sea.
Absolutely.
I remember that with disgust. Having a lousy, incompetent, or mean CO is nothing new, but with the Navy’s putrid DEI push, they were determined to put women in charge of Naval warships.
That woman was a direct result of that stupidity.
I have never believed in allowing women in combat roles or on warships, but society has made the decision that it is the way they want to do it with no consideration to other factors such as impacts on mission readiness or morale. It is a done deal now.
This doesn’t mean women cannot be leaders, some of the best and most talented people I have worked with as a civilian have been female. But that particular woman, put there by that consequences-be-damned-at-all-costs attitude, was put where she never should have been.
She was the epitome of a DEI hire. And as I recall, there were plenty of indicators in the past that she was unsuitable.
The same attitude that got Lt. Kara Hultgreen killed. In her case, she may not have been a bad pilot, and would likely have been suitable for a number of other aircraft types, but the F-14 was a challenging plane to fly, and she was put there for one reason, and one reason only, to fulfill a DEI quota. She died because of it.
The Knox class rode like crap in heavy seas. Much much worse low on fuel. To answer your question —no one ate or slept when it’s rough like that. Pissing? you did while hanging on. On the bridge when we heeled over 30 degrees there was dead silence . You could cut the tension with a knife. I think everyone on the bridge had the same thought— is this the one?
Ugh. One of the most terrifying (for me) books I have ever read was “Halsey’s Typhoon”, and the descriptions of what it was like on those small, low-on-fuel or unballasted destroyers was frightening.
People saying the Lord’s Prayer over and over, and the screams and moans of despair when they hit a roll they didn’t think they were coming back from and it hung in that state for what must have seemed like an eternity.
As a reader...I could visualize it.
a side to side bump is not a crash or a collision. its a rub at best. either case its bad ju ju for the skippers on each vessel...
For some reason our CO would never counter flood empty tanks with salt water. He said it was a pain to empty them and follow epa rules. So we bobbed.
The Knox had a huge keel anchor and the sheer weight of it help keep the bow down. Ours broke off in Italy just before heading home. Well the Atlantic being the Atlantic we hit a bad storm 2/3s the way across . Low on fuel and no keel anchor we were taking green water over the bow for days. No counter flooding. Pretty much sucked. As a sick joke a brand new anchor was waiting for us, sitting on the pier when we got home.
The “waves turn the minutes to hours”
I like reading stories from old salts about their time in the Navy that are in this thread. It doesn’t have to be some heroic story, or war story. Just random odd stuff that happens in a military.
even back then ships hauled ass... I was in when the Spruance Class came out(early 80’s). We just got done doing a couple connects and reconnects with a few ships for practice that afternoon. when we were done one of the Spruance Class Destroyers did a drive by at Full Military!! Full Speed pass. It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen!! A Spruance was almost 2wice as long as the old tin cans. but let me tell you! That thing hauled ass!! the breaking splash from the very front didnt land till after mid ship!(speed) and the roostertail was well above what would be the third deck above main(Power!!). and the Gas Turbine whine was bad ass!!
I’ll never forget it!! Especially when their skipper came out on their little bridge wing and snapped out old man a sharp salute when they hauled pass!!
...snapped OUR old man***
Sounds like you refueled off the GW back in the 1990s, when I was onboard. I was a Airdale and I would always have to raise the whips, so you guys could come along side. Miss those days 70 feet in the air with only a harness.
Thanks for bring back the memories.
Been there done that
That phrase hits pretty hard to anybody who has ever been to sea ...
We refueled from a CVN in the 80s. We had been tracking a Soviet SSBN for days and this CVBG was the only gas station around. A chance one-off UNREP of opportunity under unusual circumstances. We were totally out of place, an ASW Knox class frigate mingling with a CVBG.
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