A US Navy nuclear-powered submarine collided with a Japanese oil tanker in one of the world's busiest seaways but no injuries were immediately reported.
The USS Newport News was underwater when it hit the oil tanker Mogamigawa late on Monday in the Strait of Hormuz in the Arabian Sea, said Lieutenant Denise Garcia, a US Navy spokeswoman in Bahrain.
Located between Iran and Oman, the strait is one of the busiest routes for oil tankers. The Newport News is part of a US carrier group on anti-terrorism duties in the region.
The US military said it was investigating the cause of the accident, which Garcia said happened at about 8:15pm GMT on Monday.
"Overall damage to the USS Newport News is being evaluated. The propulsion plant was unaffected by this collision," Garcia said.
In Tokyo, the Japanese foreign ministry said the submarine's bow had collided with the stern of the oil tanker.
"Apparently, there were no injuries on the submarine or the tanker," the ministry said in a statement, citing US government information.
The tanker was operated by Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, or K Line, said a spokesman for Showa Shell Sekiyu, which contracted the vessel.
Japanese Transport Minister Tetsuzo Fuyushiba also told reporters there appeared to have been no oil leakage from the tanker.
After the accident, the tanker headed for the nearest port in the United Arab Emirates, the Japanese foreign ministry said, adding that Japan had asked the US to investigate the cause of the incident.
The Newport News, a 110m long Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine, carries a crew of 127 and is based in Norfolk, Virginia.
The submarine is part of the carrier group supporting the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, an aircraft carrier. The group is deployed in the Gulf region.
In a statement from the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet in Manama, officials said the incident "is currently under observation."
The USS Newport News "is currently on a regularly scheduled deployment" conducting maritime security operations, which help "deny international terrorists use of maritime environment as a venue for attack or to transport personnel, weapons or other material," the statement read.
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