The San Diego-based guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain collided with a South Korean fishing vessel Tuesday while on patrol with the USS Carl Vinson strike group.
The U.S. Navy and South Korea Coast Guard have launched an investigation into the accident and damage assessments are underway. No one was injured.
The Lake Champlain is a 568-foot-long Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser and the fishing boat was 60- to 70-foot long, according to the Navy.
The collision occurred in waters east of the Korean peninsula, where the Vinson group is patrolling amid heightened tensions with North Korea over that communist country’s nuclear weapons program.
The strike group includes the Vinson, embarked Carrier Air Wing 2, and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Wayne E. Meyer and USS Michael Murphy.
— From Staff and Wire Reports
