Cruise Ship Slams Into Coast Guard USS Slater After Engine Breakdown [Watch]

A cruise ship named Dutch Apple II reportedly hit the Coast Guard owned vessel U.S.S. Slater, serving as a warship museum on the Hudson River near Albany.

No injuries have been reported to any persons in either of the ships.

Journalist Jill Konopka of NewsChannel 13 was on board the cruise ship when the collision happened and she captured its video.

According to Jill, she heard the ship’s captain saying they ‘lost transmissions” and the collision happened soon after.

The Slater is a decommissioned World War II destroyer escort currently maintained as a museum. The Slater is open for visitors from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday and on Dec. 1 it will close the open season.

According to cruise news, the two ships were docked on the Hudson River near the Corning Preserve.

The Dutch Apple runs river cruises. The cruise ship suffered some minor damage. Some reports said a third boat named John J. Harvey was also hit.

The Coast Guard officials said the cruise ship’s crew reported that Dutch Apple faced power loss in one of the engines when it was returning to the dock.

The cruise ship has now been instructed not to carry passengers until the engine problem is fixed.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Coast Guard ordered an inquiry into the circumstances in which Dutch Apple II hit the U.S.S. Slater.

The river cruise market is growing fast

The travel market is reporting a bigger growth in river cruises. According to a recent report by Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), smaller ships, intimate settings, and increased luxury are driving the growth of river cruising markets.

“After group and multigenerational travel, river cruises are the hottest trend in the marketplace,” the CLIA report noted.

Tracing the new trends in cruise deals, many travel agents also said it is river cruising that introduces non-cruisers into cruising. The rising demand for a river cruise is also evident in online travel sites including Travelzoo.

Many river cruise lines are also expanding the fleet. The Viking river cruises added seven new river cruise ships in March.

In the U.S, American Cruise Lines is a noted player in the river cruise segment.

The main selling points of river cruise lines are regional cuisine, exclusive experiences including luxurious cabins and cultural enrichment.

Hudson River is New York’s most important river. The river and the valley are formed by the Catskills, Adirondacks and other mountain ranges that houses a great variety of cultural, historic, and natural attractions.