The US nuclear submarine USN-22 Connecticut, which was injured in a collision with an unknown object, returned to its base on the island of Guam.
An assessment of its damage has begun, but it has already been announced that the reactor was not damaged. The incident, as a result of which 11 sailors were injured, occurred during the largest international exercises in the Asia-Pacific region with the participation of four US aircraft carriers and their allies.
The maneuvers were intended to be a demonstration of the coalition's strength in front of China.
According to sources in the defense department, Izvestia writes, they closely monitored the situation with the submarine and analyzed the data of objective control. Russia has the ability to observe foreign warships in specified areas of the World Ocean, the Defense Ministry stressed.
Although the incident occurred on October 2, the US Navy reported it only five days later. According to official data, 11 crew members received injuries, two of them of moderate severity. They did not need emergency medical evacuation. The nuclear reactor was not damaged. The boat kept running and was able to return to the base on its own.
The US military said the incident happened in the South China Sea and was not caused by a collision with another submarine.
After him, Connecticut surfaced and headed for the island of Guam in a surface position.
The collision of an American submarine with an unknown object occurred against the backdrop of deteriorating relations between Washington and Beijing due to the massive invasion of Chinese military aircraft into the Taiwan Air Defense Identification Zone and the largest international maneuvers in the seas near the Chinese coast in several years.
