Two US Navy ships collide in Caribbean, leaving 2 sailors injured

Two Navy ships deployed as part of the Trump administration’s massive military buildup in the Caribbean Sea have collided, leaving two troops with minor injuries, U.S. Southern Command said Thursday.

The destroyer USS Truxtun and the supply ship USNS Supply collided on Wednesday as the warship was getting a new load of supplies. The maneuver 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 military statement said two personnel reported minor injuries after the collision and that both were in stable condition. The two ships now are sailing safely, according to Southern Command.

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 , Nicolás Maduro.

The USS Truxtun left its home port in Norfolk, Virginia, on Feb. 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 Feb. 6, according to a Navy official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive operational details.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the collision, which is rare for warships. The 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 also was traveling 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.

美国南方司令部周四表示，作为特朗普政府在加勒比海大规模军事集结的一部分而部署的两艘海军舰艇发生碰撞，造成两名士兵轻伤。

周三，驱逐舰“特鲁克斯顿”号（USS Truxtun）与补给舰“供应”号（USNS Supply）在接收新物资时发生碰撞。通常情况下，两艘舰艇会平行航行，彼此间距通常在数百英尺以内，并通过软管和电缆进行燃料和物资的输送。

军方声明称，碰撞事故中两名人员受轻伤，目前情况稳定。南方司令部表示，两艘舰艇目前安全航行。

“特鲁克斯顿”号驱逐舰是近期加入美国在加勒比海庞大海军力量的新成员，该海军力量目前拥有 12 艘舰艇，其中包括世界上最大的航空母舰“杰拉尔德·R·福特”号，以及几艘载有数千名海军陆战队员的两栖攻击舰。

共和党政府在该地区建立了几代人以来规模最大的军事存在，然后自 9 月以来对涉嫌贩毒船只进行了一系列致命打击，扣押了受制裁的油轮，并进行了一次突袭，抓获了当时的委内瑞拉总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗。

2月3日，美国海军“特鲁克斯顿”号驱逐舰离开位于弗吉尼亚州诺福克的母港。据一位不愿透露姓名的海军官员称，该驱逐舰不得不返回港口几天进行“紧急设备维修”，并最终于2月6日启程前往加勒比海。这位官员表示，他需要匿名才能讨论敏感的作战细节。

《华尔街日报》率先报道了这起碰撞事故，这种情况在军舰中实属罕见。美国海军最近一次发生碰撞事故是在2025年2月，当时“哈里·S·杜鲁门”号航空母舰在埃及塞得港附近的苏伊士运河外与一艘商船相撞。事故造成“杜鲁门”号轻微受损，但无人受伤。

12 月公布的一项调查显示，由于这艘航空母舰的航行进度落后于计划，负责导航的军官以不安全的高速驾驶该舰。

报告发现，当一艘商船驶入与该运输船的碰撞航线时，值班官员没有采取足够的措施来避开危险，而且该船当时的航速也太快，即使停止引擎，也需要行驶近一英里半才能停下来。