Romanian Naval Forces’ minesweeper damaged after being hit by mine

The Romanian Naval Forces sent the maritime minesweeper “Lieutenant Dimitrie Nicolescu” to neutralize a war mine floating adrift in the territorial waters of the Black Sea. The explosive mechanism was detected on Thursday around noon, about 40 kilometers away from the port of Constanța. During the intervention the vessel touched the mine which exploded and caused damage.

The warship hit the mine it was supposed to neutralize and the engines were damaged. There were 75 soldiers on board, but there were no casualties. The vessel can no longer move and is waiting for help to be towed, as there is a storm at sea. Also, from the first information, it seems that the ship had started to take on water at the stern, and the crew proceeded to cover the water hole, buoyancy not being affected.

There are no casualties or injuries as a result of the explosion, the 75 soldiers of the ship’s crew are not in danger, the ship’s buoyancy is not affected, and there are no major damages on board.

The “Lieutenant Dimitrie Nicolescu” ship performs, between September 5-12, permanent combat service and has on board, for this intervention mission, a detachment of EOD divers, specialized in the destruction of explosive devices.

It is the third operation of this type carried out by the Romanian authorities since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. From the beginning of the war until now, 28 sea mines have been destroyed in the western part of the Black Sea, of which three mines are from Turkey, two from Romania, one from Bulgaria and 22 from Ukraine.”