reactor (which had been scrammed as a precaution) and the submarine was towed to a base at Vidyayevo. The incident was reported as being caused by an electrical fire in the vessel's wiring. USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul incident Four crew members were washed overboard from by heavy waves on 29 December 2006 in Plymouth Sound, England. This resulted in the deaths of Senior Chief Thomas Higgins (chief of the boat) and Sonar Technician 2nd Class Michael Holtz. After the preliminary investigation, Commander Edwin Ruff received a punitive letter of reprimand, stating that the accident was avoidable, and he was reassigned to a shore-based post in Norfolk, Virginia. 2007 USS Newport News collision with Japanese tanker Mogamigawa On 8 January 2007, was transiting submerged in the Straits of Hormuz when she hit the Japanese tanker Mogamigawa. She had been operating as part of Carrier Strike Group 8 (CSG-8), organized around the aircraft carrier and dispatched to the Indian Ocean to help support operations in Somalia. HMS Tireless On 21 March 2007 two crew members of the Royal Navy's , were killed in an explosion caused by air-purification equipment in the forward section of the submarine. The submarine was in service in the Arctic Ocean and had to make an emergency surface through the pack ice. A third crewmember who suffered "non-life-threatening" injuries was airlifted to a military hospital at Elmendorf Air Force Base near Anchorage, Alaska. According to the Royal Navy, the accident did not affect the ship's nuclear reactor, and the ship sustained only superficial damage. 2008 HMS Superb On 26 May 2008, the Royal Navy's , hit an underwater rock pinnacle in the northern Red Sea, south of Suez, causing damage to sonar equipment. The submarine was decommissioned slightly earlier than planned as a result of the damage. Russian K-152 Nerpa gas leak On 8 November 2008, at least 20 men died of asphyxiation from a gas leak on board the Russian nuclear submarine K-152 Nerpa, during trials in the Sea of Japan. The submarine was leased to the Indian Navy in 2011 and was formally commissioned into service as INS Chakra in 2012. 2009 HMS Vanguard and Triomphant collision Two nuclear submarines, the Royal Navy's and the French Navy's Triomphant, collided in February 2009. They were operating in the Atlantic Ocean at the time. No injuries or radiation leaks were reported. USS Hartford and USS New Orleans collision collided