USS Jason Dunham Spills Oil off Outer Banks

About 35,000 gallons of diesel fuel were discharged from the U.S. Navy’s destroyer, USS Jason Dunham, off the Outer Banks, North Carolina, according to the Outer Banks Voice.

The spill started on March 11, 50 miles east-southeast of Ocracoke and continued until March 12 around 75 miles east of Carova Beach, without direct environmental impact as the fuel is said to have dissipated without reaching the coast.

The U.S. Navy’s marine diesel is a heavier product than typical fuels, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a report on March 12.

However, there are no signs of a sheen on the water surface and the fuel is expected to drift away and evaporate. The cause of the incident is a misalignment in the ship’s fuel system, Navy officials said.

USS Jason Dunham (DDG-109) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer of the United States Navy, which was commissioned into the fleet on November 13th, 2010. She is the 59th destroyer in her class and built by the Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine.

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Naval Today Staff, March 18, 2014; Image: Wikimedia