U.S. Navy ships collide in Atlantic Ocean, no injuries reported

Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Two U.S. Navy vessels, a guided-missile destroyer and a cargo ship, struck each other off the Florida coast, with no injuries, the Navy reported.

The sterns of the USS Leyte and the USNS Robert E. Peary, a dry cargo ship, collided off the Florida coast on Tuesday afternoon during a replenishment-at-sea operation.

Both ships were able to operate safely after the incident, the Navy said in a statement, adding that damage will be assessed, and the U.S. Fleet Forces Command and Military Sealift Command will investigate, after the ships pull into port.

The destroyer, the Ticonderoga-class USS Leyte, is among seven ships involved in the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, which departed Naval Station Norfolk, Va., on Jan. 28 for exercises ahead of deployment to Europe.

The composite training unit exercise, or COMPTUEX, is a series of operations and scenarios meant to help the seven-vessel group achieve certification for deployment. The group is led by the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and includes several destroyers and cruisers.

The strike group will undergo two months of two months of training and then visit the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Indian Ocean, the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean. The aircraft carrier will then arrive at its new homeport of San Diego.