Tugboat drifts into U.S. destroyer

November 19, 2017

WASHINGTON- A Japanese commercial tugboat drifted into the U.S. Navy's guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold in Sagami Bay near Tokyo on Saturday, the Navy's 7th Fleet said.

The tugboat lost propulsion and drifted into the Benfold when the destroyer was participating in a scheduled towing exercise, the 7th Fleet said.

No one was injured on either vessel and Benfold sustained minimal damage, including scrapes on its side, said the fleet, based in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo.

The Benfold remains at sea under its own power, while the Japanese boat was towed by another vessel to a port in Yokosuka. The incident will be investigated, the fleet said.

In June, seven U.S. sailors died in a collision between the USS Fitzgerald, a guided-missile destroyer in the 7th Fleet, and a container ship off the coast of the Izu Peninsula in central Japan.

In August, 10 U.S. sailors were killed when the USS John S. McCain, another guided-missile destroyer in the 7th Fleet, collided with an oil tanker off the coast of Singapore. Jiji Press