Russian destroyer nearly collides with American warship, U.S. Navy says

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Official U.S. Navy file photo of the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville (CG 62).
A Russian destroyer nearly collided with an American guided-missile cruiser in the Philippine Sea, the U.S. Navy said on Friday, calling the incident “unsafe and unprofessional.”  The Russian Pacific Fleet, meanwhile, blamed the U.S. for the close encounter.
U.S. Seventh Fleet spokesman Commander Clayton Doss said a Russian destroyer came within 50 to 100 feet of the USS Chancellorsville, “putting the safety of her crew and ship at risk.” Doss said the U.S. ship was “on a steady course and speed when the Russian ship DD572 maneuvered from behind and to the right of” the American warship.”This unsafe action forced Chancellorsville to execute all engines back full and to maneuver to avoid collision,” Doss said.
A tweet from CNN shows a video of just how close the destroyer came to making contact with the US ship.Watch video obtained by CNN of the near collision between US and Russian warships. The Navy says the two ships came so close together that the US ship was forced to throw it in reverse and hit the gas https://t.co/PmMvJ7GFwe pic.twitter.com/TVFOFOeM8I

However, Russia blamed the U.S. for the incident, Reuters reported, citing Russian news agencies.

“The U.S guided-missile cruiser Chancellorsville suddenly changed course and cut across the path of the destroyer Admiral Vinogradov coming within 50 meters of the ship,” the Russian Pacific Fleet statement said.

The incident comes amid increased military finger pointing between Washington and Moscow. On Tuesday, a U.S. aircraft flying in international airspace over the Mediterranean Sea was intercepted three times by a Russian fighter jet during a 175-minute period, according to the 6th Fleet. Last month, U.S. warplanes intercepted Russian bombers and fighter jets off the Alaskan coast for two days in a row.

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