Two US Navy personnel experienced “minor injuries” after the USS Truxtun, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, ran into a supply ship in the Caribbean on Wednesday.

Two United States Navy vessels collided on Wednesday, with two individuals suffering minor injuries, according to The Wall Street Journal. The collision took place near South America, where both vessels were dispatched as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to confront Venezuela. The United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) confirmed the incident, but did not specify the precise location of the collision.

“Yesterday afternoon, the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Truxtun (DDG-103) and the Supply-class fast combat support ship USNS Supply (T-AOE-6) collided during a replenishment-at-sea,” US Southern Command said in a statement on Thursday. “Two personnel reported minor injuries and are in stable condition. Both ships have reported sailing safely. The incident is currently under investigation.”

Navy Ships Occasionally Run into One Another

Collisions at sea involving United States Navy vessels are relatively rare. Although the number of overall accidents has decreased over the past 50 years, recent years (2022–2024) have seen a sharp rise in “afloat accidents”—reaching a decade high in 2024, with 10 such incidents. That followed eight such incidents each in 2022 and 2023.

The Maritime Executive reported in late 2024 that there had been a significant rise in incidents within the Military Sealift Command (MSC), the organization that controls the replenishment and military transport ships for the United States Navy.

The recent collision between the Truxtun and the Supply took place nearly a year to the day that the US Navy’s Nimitz-class nuclear-powered supercarrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) collided with the merchant vessel Besiktas-M near the Suez Canal. Although that incident didn’t impact the carrier’s nuclear reactors, it was significant enough that the resulting damage to the bulkheads couldn’t be easily fixed. Instead, the issue will be addressed when CVN-75 undergoes its mid-life Refueling and Complex Overhaul (RCOH) period, beginning later this year.

About the Truxtun and the Supply

USS Truxtun had only departed from Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, at the beginning of this month for her scheduled 2026 deployment. The Arleigh Burke-class Flight IIA Aegis guided-missile destroyer had spent the past three months undergoing maintenance and crew training, completing certifications and readiness preparations.

It was a quick turnaround for the warship, which had completed her previous seven-month deployment in early October. During the prior mission, the warship operated in the US 5th and 6th Fleet areas of responsibility, including alongside the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group, the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group, and the Royal Navy’s HMS Prince of Wales Strike Group (CSG-25) in various capacities.

Commissioned in April 2006, DDG-103 became the sixth U.S. Navy warship named for Commodore Thomas Truxtun, who operated as a US privateer during the American Revolution, commanding several ships and capturing multiple Royal Navy vessels without ever being defeated in combat.

USNS Supply is the lead vessel of the Supply-class of fast combat support ships. Originally commissioned as the USS Supply (AOE-6), the 48,800-ton vessel was operated by the United States Navy. However, in July 2001, the vessel was decommissioned and transferred to MSC, no longer carrying weapons systems. Now operated by a civilian crew, T-AOE-6 earned a Maritime “E” (Excellence) award last March.

As a supply ship, the vessel can carry nearly two million gallons of diesel fuel or 2.6 million gallons of JP-5 aviation fuel for US Navy aircraft carriers, along with 1,800 tons of ordnance and 20,000 gallons of fresh water.

About the Author: Peter Suciu

Peter Suciu has contributed over 3,200 published pieces to more than four dozen magazines and websites over a 30-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a contributing writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: Editor@nationalinterest.org.

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