Navy ship, oil tanker collide in Persian Gulf

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- A U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer was left with a gaping hole on one side after it collided with an oil tanker early Sunday just outside the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

The collision left a breach about 10 feet by 10 feet in the starboard side of USS Porter.

No one was injured on either vessel, the Navy said in a statement.

The cause of the incident is under investigation, the Navy said, though the collision was not "combat related." There were no reports of spills or leakages from either the USS Porter or the Panamanian-flagged and Japanese-owned bulk oil tanker M/V Otowasan, the Navy said.

Navy spokesman Greg Raelson said the destroyer now is in port in Jebel Ali, Dubai. "We're just happy there were no injuries," he said. "An investigation is under way."

The USS Porter is on a scheduled deployment to the U.S. 5th Fleet, which is based in Bahrain, an island nation in the Persian Gulf.

The Strait of Hormuz, at the mouth of the Gulf, is a crowded, tense waterway where one-fifth of the world's oil is routed.

Tensions have risen there over repeated Iranian threats to block tanker traffic in retaliation for tighter sanctions by the West.

The sanctions are aimed at persuading Iran to abandon its uranium enrichment program, so far without success.

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