US nuclear attack submarine hits fishing vessel in Gulf

WASHINGTON -- A nuclear-powered American attack submarine hit a fishing trawler after it passed through the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf on Thursday, a Navy official said.

No one was injured in the incident, which occurred at 5 a.m. local time (9 p.m. ET Wednesday), but the top of the submarine's periscope was shorn off and the sub was forced to use a second periscope, the official said.

The reactor on the nuclear-powered USS Jacksonville was not affected. "There was no damage to the propulsion plant systems and there is no concern regarding watertight integrity," the Navy's Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet said in a statement.

As for the trawler, it may not have even realized it hit the submarine and did not appear to suffer any damage.

The vessel "continued on a consistent course and speed offering no indication of distress or acknowledgment of a collision," the Fifth Fleet said in a statement.

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