A Norwegian fishing boat accidentally caught a US Navy nuclear-powered submarine weighing 7,800 tons.
The fishing vessel, measuring ten meters in length, was returning to a port in the northern Norwegian region of Troms on Monday when the submarine got entangled in its nets and dragged them nearly four kilometers, as reported by The Telegraph.
The incident took place near Malangen, west of Tromsø, on the coast of the Norwegian Sea.
"We had just emptied the nets, thrown them out again, and were heading back to port when we received a radio call from the coast guard," said Harald Engen, the ship's captain, to local station NRK. "I've heard of other ships getting caught in nets, but no one here has ever heard of a submarine getting tangled up like this," he added.
The US Embassy in Oslo later confirmed that the USS Virginia, a 114-meter-long nuclear-powered attack submarine, got entangled in the nets after making a scheduled stop at a port near Tromsø.
The fishing net was sucked into the submarine's propellers, possibly while it was navigating on the surface, and was later cut by an escort vessel sent by the Norwegian coast guard.
Lt. Pierson Hawkins, spokesperson for the US Navy's 6th Fleet, told Business Insider that no one was injured in the incident, and mentioned that an investigation is ongoing. When asked about compensation, he said, "Typically, when the US is responsible for damage to civilian equipment, there is a claims process for reimbursement of expenses."
Nuclear submarines are powered by a nuclear reactor, but are not necessarily equipped with nuclear weapons.
In recent years, such submarines have frequently surfaced in the fjords near Tromsø, with the Norwegian Coast Guard assisting in transporting supplies on board or new crew members, as noted by The Barents Observer.
The fishermen now have a sensational story to tell, but they complain that they are left without their nets. The captain of the fishing boat estimated his losses at 40,000 Norwegian kroner (approximately 3,356 euros), double the value of the halibut catch that day.