The guided-missile cruiser Antietam suffered a small fire on Sept. 24, resulting in minor injuries for 13 sailors, the Navy said Tuesday.
“Crew members quickly extinguished the fire with no damage to engineering equipment and Antietam remains fully operational,” 7th Fleet spokesperson Cmdr. Reann Mommsen said in an email to Navy Times.
“During the response, 13 crew members experienced minor injuries, were treated by the ship’s medical team, and returned to duty,” Mommsen said. “An investigation into the cause of the fire is underway.”
No other details were available. Stars and Stripes was the first to report on the fire.
The Antietam, based in Yokosuka, Japan, was one of multiple Navy vessels participating in the Valiant Shield exercise in the Philippine Sea between Sept. 14 and Sept. 25. During the exercise, the ship was involved in sinking the decommissioned guided-missile frigate Curts off the coast of Guam and also completed a Tomahawk Land Attack Missile strike scenario.
“The TLAM exercise...provides the entire Ronald Reagan Strike Group the opportunity to exercise critical war fighting skills that helps the warfighter refine their tactical abilities to respond to a full range of military response options that are available in defense of our shared interests in the Asia Pacific region,” Capt. Russell Caldwell, commanding officer of the Antietam, said in a Navy news release.
The Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group, amphibious warship America, amphibious transport dock New Orleans, amphibious dock landing ship Comstock, fast-attack submarine Chicago, Carrier Air Wing 5 and multiple surface ships also were involved in Valiant Shield.
Roughly 11,000 Navy, Air Force, Army and Marine Corps personnel participated in the drill, according to the Navy.
