“The USS Connecticut struck an object in the afternoon of October 2, while navigating submerged in international waters in the Indo-Pacific region,” the US Navy said in a statement.
A US nuclear submarine struck an unidentified object while patrolling the South China Sea, a region widely claimed by China, last weekend, the US Navy said Thursday (October 7th).
“The USS Connecticut struck an object in the afternoon of October 2 while sailing submerged in international waters of the Indo-Pacific region”, the US Navy said in a statement. “There is no fatal injury”, specifies the text, suggesting that sailors may have been slightly injured.
The USS Connecticut, which is a Seawolf-class nuclear-powered submarine, was damaged but remains in working order, the US Navy added.
According to the Naval Institute, a think tank close to the US Navy, the USS Connecticut was participating in an international naval exercise in the South China Sea during the incident.
China claims almost all of the South China Sea and has built military outposts on small islands and atolls in the region. The United States and its allies regularly patrol the international waters of this region, to assert their rights to freedom of navigation, to the chagrin of China.