USNI News has reported that almost a dozen sailors were injured after a U.S. Navy nuclear attack submarine collided with an unknown undersea object in the South China Sea.

A representative for the U.S. Pacific Fleet confirmed Thursday that the Seawolf-class nuclear attack submarine USS Connecticut was involved in an underwater accident while operating in international seas on October 2 and is now returning to port in the US 7th Fleet.

The submarine is in "safe and stable" condition, Navy officials said, and is on its way to dock for a damage assessment that could help pinpoint what it hit.

"The crew's safety is still the Navy's top concern. There were no life threatening injuries," a statement from the Navy's Pacific Fleet, read.

Two sailors on board the submarine were treated for "moderate injuries," a Navy official said, while others sustained bumps, scrapes, and gashes.

The submarine is safe and steady, and its nuclear propulsion plant and other interiors have not been damaged and are fully operating, the report disclosed. Officials said the degree of damage to the rest of the submarine is being analyzed, and the incident will be investigated.

The incident occurred in the face of rising regional tensions, particularly on the same weekend that U.S. and UK aircraft carriers conducted military maneuvers just north of Taiwan with Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan.

Since then, the United Kingdom Carrier Strike Group 21 has traveled to the South China Sea, demonstrating the importance of the region as a maritime trading route.

Nearly 40 Chinese military aircraft, including fighter jets and transport planes, flew into Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone on Saturday, prompting the Taiwanese air force to scramble jets and deploy air defense missiles to keep an eye on the planes.

Officials claimed they didn't know what the submarine hit while submerged. It might include immovable items such as a sea mount, an underwater sea mountain, or an object towed by a surface vessel, officials said.

Connecticut is one of three Sea Wolf-class attack submarines built in the late Cold War to hunt down the most advanced Soviet submarines in deep sea. Connecticut, along with the USS Sea Wolf and the USS Jimmy Carter, is one of the Navy's most sensitive attack subs.