A U.S. Navy missile destroyer lost power last month and spent four days in the South China Sea’s heatwave without toilets, galley services or air conditioning.
The U.S. 7th Fleet said in a statement to CNN that the accident was due to a technical defect on the warship and was another setback amid growing concerns about the heavy strain on the U.S. Navy from the Iran war and global engagement.
The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Benfold suffered a “technical casualty related to its generator” on July 24 during a routine mission in the Indo-Pacific, the Navy’s commander said. 7th Fleet spokesman Matthew Comer said.
Benfold is often part of the strike group that accompanies the USS George Washington, an aircraft carrier currently heading to the Middle East to pursue the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, but it appears she is still in Asia.
Comer said the approximately 10,000-ton warship lost its ability to steer itself, and its galley, toilets, air conditioning and drinking water were also affected.
“There were no injuries to the crew and they demonstrated resilience, grit, professionalism and a steady and steady response,” Comer said in a statement.
The ministry said the cause of the power outage, which USNI News first reported was in the South China Sea, is currently under investigation.
The move comes as the U.S. Navy comes under increased scrutiny after reports of low morale and mental health concerns aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East, which endured more than 200 days without a port call during operations against Iran.
Analysts and Democratic lawmakers say the U.S. Navy is exhausted by the demands of the Iran war and the navy’s global commitments.
Comer did not mention the specific location where the failure occurred, but weather records show that average daytime temperatures in the South China Sea in late July ranged from 89 to 98 degrees Fahrenheit (32 to 37 degrees Celsius).
Former U.S. Navy Capt. Karl Schuster, who once endured about four hours aboard a destroyer without power near Puerto Rico, described what such a scenario would be like.
“It must have been quite stressful. The operations officer was worried about crew morale and operational concerns, the engineer was focused on how to resolve it, the navigator was worried about the direction the ship was drifting and what the weather was going to be. The crew was worried about the weather, the food, what was going to happen next. The (captain) and (executive officer) were worried about all of that and when help would arrive,” Schuster said.
“I can assure you that four hours in the waters southeast of Puerto Rico was not as stressful as four days in the South China Sea,” he added.
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The Navy announced that a second U.S. warship, the guided-missile cruiser USS Robert Smalls, provided prepared meals to Benfold during the power outage. Comer said other ships from the Japan-based George Washington Carrier Strike Group also assisted the Benfold for four days before it was towed to Subic Bay in the Philippines for repairs.
Repairs were completed by August 8, and the ship returned to service, the Navy said.
Navy officials told CNN that the USS George Washington aircraft carrier strike group was heading to the Middle East to rescue Lincoln and his group. But the Navy did not say Monday whether the Benfold was sent off the coast of Iran with the Washington CSG.
According to USNI News, Japanese ship watchers reported that the ship had arrived in Japan.
The Benfold accident is the second such incident in which a U.S. Navy destroyer collided and lost power in Pacific Command waters from the U.S. West Coast to the western border of India and from the North Pole to the Antarctic.
In May, the USS Higgins lost power and propulsion for several hours in the Indo-Pacific region, suffering what a Navy statement called “technical damage” to its electrical systems, a U.S. defense official told CNN at the time. He did not say where the incident occurred.
Arleigh Burke-class destroyers like Benfold and Higgins are the workhorses of the U.S. Navy’s surface fleet, with more than 70 in service.
Depending on configuration, the ships, which are 500 feet long and displace approximately 10,000 tons, will carry a crew of 329 to 359 people.
