Navy Ships Crash While Refueling

An amphibious assault ship on its way back to San Diego from Japan collided Wednesday morning with an oiler about 120 miles off the Southern California coast, the Navy said.

The USS Essex, which is scheduled to arrive Thursday, approached the USNS Yukon to refuel at about 9:20 a.m., when an apparent steering malfunction caused it to crash, said Charlie Brown, spokesman for the Navy’s 3rd Fleet. There were no injuries.

“Right now, both ships have reported some damage but the damage is still being assessed,” Brown said. “However, the ships’ fuel tanks and systems were not compromised, and there was no fuel spilled.”

The Navy plans to conduct an investigation, and it is assessing the damage. Brown said collisions at sea between vessels are rare.

“We take safety very seriously,” Brown said. “We routinely and safely conduct refuelings at sea.”

The collision occurred as the Essex was preparing to go through an “unrep,” or an underway replenishment. Unreps can be difficult and dangerous, because the ship and the oiler must maintain the same speed and a specific distance for a significant period of time.

The San Diego-based destroyer Harry W. Hill collided with the oiler Kansas City during an unrep in the Gulf of Oman in 1991.

The 844-foot Essex was commissioned in San Diego in 1992 and has been forward deployed in Sasebo, Japan for the last 12 years. The ship recently underwent a crew swap there with the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard.

The entire crew of the Bonhomme Richard took over the Essex, while the crew of Essex transferred to the Bonhomme Richard. Such swaps are not unusual. The Navy performs them to keep ships operating.

This isn't the first time the Essex has had problems. In February, military publication Stars and Stripes reported that the vessel failed to meet a commitment at sea for the second time in seven months as a result of "mechanical or maintenance issues." A Navy official at the time attributed the problem to "wear and tear."

General Dynamics-NASSCO has been scheduled to perform work on the Essex after it docks at Naval Base San Diego, and the vessel is scheduled to go into NASSCO’s dry dock next February for a major overhaul.