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Two US navy vessels have collided in the Strait of Hormuz near Iran, lightly injuring 15 sailors, the US navy said. A nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Hartford, and an amphibious vessel, the USS New Orleans, collided early on Friday, the US Navy Fifth Fleet said. The incident is being investigated and damage to both ships is being evaluated, a navy statement said.

The New Orleans' fuel tank was ruptured in the crash, causing a spill of 25,000 gallons (90,000 litres) of diesel.

BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | US navy vessels collide in Gulf



I'm completely baffled by this.

The USS New Orleans is amphibious? It was carrying at least 25,000 gallons of fuel and it can drive up out of the water and move around on land? What sort of wheels does it have!

I think "amphibious" is also used to describe a vessel specialised to partake in amphibious operations, ie landing troops on a shore, even if the ship itself doesn't waddle up out of the water. (or were you being facetious?)

I wasn't in the least and I'm horrified you should even ask. I doubt your interpretation too.

I read that it is a dock ship. It carries troops and can come close to shore like a dock of some sort.

YZGI;1160408 wrote: I read that it is a dock ship. It carries troops and can come close to shore like a dock of some sort.


Like... the QE2, for instance, or the Queen Mary, or the Titanic before it sank? Most boats can do that.

spot;1160394 wrote: Two US navy vessels have collided in the Strait of Hormuz near Iran, lightly injuring 15 sailors, the US navy said. A nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Hartford, and an amphibious vessel, the USS New Orleans, collided early on Friday, the US Navy Fifth Fleet said. The incident is being investigated and damage to both ships is being evaluated, a navy statement said.

The New Orleans' fuel tank was ruptured in the crash, causing a spill of 25,000 gallons (90,000 litres) of diesel.

BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | US navy vessels collide in Gulf

I'm completely baffled by this.

The USS New Orleans is amphibious? It was carrying at least 25,000 gallons of fuel and it can drive up out of the water and move around on land? What sort of wheels does it have!


I cannot imagine a reasonable transposition that would explain the report and, if the report is true then, as you say, HOW?

If the damage were to the sub then no diesel - it atomic.

If the decimal point is in the wrong place then 250 gallons is not worth reporting.

OK, three possibilities :-

Sub's diesel, not atomic - unlikely (not true, Los Angeles class submarine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Surface craft is not amphibious - that's the one (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_New_Orleans_(CA-32))

third possibility was another ship being involved.

Why report her as amphibious? An odd error to make.

The LPD-17 ships are the first amphibious ships designed to accommodate the Marine Corps' "mobility triad" - Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAAV), Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC), and the Marine Corps' new tilt-rotor MV-22 Osprey - for high-speed, long-range tactical-lift operations. Just as "littoral" has come to mean operations that begin well "over-the-horizon" (OTH), as far as 600 miles from an adversary's coastline, the "mobility triad" will ensure our ability to "reach out and touch someone" hundreds of miles inland, at revolutionary speeds.

USS New Orleans (LPD-18) Official Command Website

I myself am amphibeous and simply use my legs to walk out of the water onto land when the water becomes shallow enough.

The USS New Orleans is a San Antonio class amphibious transport dock ship, homeported in San Diego, California. It carries a crew of 381, and can transport 720 troops.





US vessels collide in Strait of Hormuz

Kindle;1160416 wrote: The LPD-17 ships are the first amphibious ships designed to accommodate the Marine Corps' "mobility triad" - Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAAV), Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC), and the Marine Corps' new tilt-rotor MV-22 Osprey - for high-speed, long-range tactical-lift operations. Just as "littoral" has come to mean operations that begin well "over-the-horizon" (OTH), as far as 600 miles from an adversary's coastline, the "mobility triad" will ensure our ability to "reach out and touch someone" hundreds of miles inland, at revolutionary speeds.

USS New Orleans (LPD-18) Official Command Website


Ah - I hit on the wrong ship - looking at the current ship of that name I wonder if the first two paragraphs from Wikipedia have a bearing on the third :-

After arriving in San Diego, New Orleans required 400,000 more hours of construction to bring it to fully operational status. Commander Scott Davies took command of the ship in June 2008.[1]



In August 2008, the ship flunked its INSURV inspection. The INSURV inspectors documented 2,600 deficiencies, including problems with the steering system, broken ventilation fans, inoperable elevators, corrosion on the flight deck, and an unreliable propulsion system. "USS New Orleans was degraded in her ability to conduct sustained combat operations," the INSURV report said. "The ship cannot support embarked troops, cargo or landing craft."[1]

US Navy officials reported that 85% of the deficiencies were minor issues and that most of the deficiences have already been corrected. The Navy expects to send the ship on its first deployment, with the Boxer amphibious strike group, in early 2009.[1]



On 20 March 2009 New Orleans was involved in a collision with the submarine USS Hartford (SSN-768) in the Strait of Hormuz. Fifteen sailors on the Hartford suffered minor injuries and the fuel tank on the New Orleans was ruptured causing an oil spill of 25,000 gallons of diesel marine fuel. After the incident both vessels were able to continue under their own power.[4]

Spot, don't be a silly billy! The USS New Orleans is an amphibious support vessel, containing 3 landing craft and 2 or 3 helicopters. She can also transport up to 800 soldiers. You can check all this up by 'searching' USS New Orleans (I think there have been 3 US Navy ships named 'New Orleans' - this is the latest one, or course!).

Seems to be a very up-to-date hi-tech ship. Oh, and by the way, I think there is a special compartment incorporated to hide away the heavy duty wheels required from time to time to enable this craft to negotiate beaches. That is only when it is not suitable to launch the 3 landing craft, or the helicopters ! :p

It can also park on double yellow lines with impunity :yh_rotfl :p :driving:

Had it been described in the BBC report as an amphibious support vessel I would have raised no eyebrow and we'd not be having this discussion. An amphibious support vessel is a vessel which supports amphibious operations. What the BBC called it was "an amphibious vessel, the USS New Orleans".

There used to be landing craft, for example - a bit like a skip with an outboard which dumped troops in the surf under enemy fire. There were also amphibious landing craft which carried on when they reached the surf and drove up the beach, onto the tarmac and all the way into town before the troops disembarked. Why the world ever bothered to invent a dictionary I'll never know. Nobody bothers to stick to agreed meanings any longer. An amphibious ship is one which can operate on land as well as sea.

The English language is always - always - changing, dictionary or no.

Clodhopper;1160601 wrote: The English language is always - always - changing, dictionary or no.


So now I don't have a word which means amphibious any longer? It's gone the way of decimate and cohort and nice and presently and incredible and literally and quite?

Vandals.

:yh_rotfl:yh_rotfl:yh_rotfl

The one I regret is "want" as in "lack". Much more elegant usage than our current "desire", imo.