US Navy destroyer spent four days without power last month in South China Sea

By Brad Lendon, CNN

(CNN) — A US Navy guided-missile destroyer spent four days last month without working toilets, galley services and air conditioning in the blistering heat of the South China Sea after the warship lost power.

The incident was due to an engineering failure aboard the warship, the US 7th Fleet said in a statement to CNN, another setback as concerns mount over the heavy strain on the US Navy due to the Iran war and global commitments.

The USS Benfold, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, was on routine operations in the Indo-Pacific on July 24 when an “engineering casualty involving its generators” occurred, Navy Cmdr. Matthew Comer, spokesperson for the 7th Fleet, said.

The Benfold is often part of the strike group the accompanies the USS George Washington –– the aircraft carrier currently heading to the Middle East to relive the beleaguered USS Abraham Lincoln –– but it appears to still be in Asia.

Besides losing the ability to maneuver on its own, the almost 10,000-ton warship saw its galley services, toilets, air conditioning and potable water impacted, Comer said.

“There were no injuries to the crew, who demonstrated resilience, grit, professionalism, and unwavering steadiness in their response,” Comer’s statement said.

It said the cause of the power outage – first reported by USNI News, which said it occurred in the South China Sea – is under investigation.

It comes as the US Navy is under increasing scrutiny after reports of low morale and mental health concerns aboard the Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East after it endured more than 200 days without a port call during operations against Iran.

Analysts and Democratic lawmakers have said the US Navy is being stretched thin by the demands of the Iran war and the Navy’s global commitments.

While Comer didn’t give a specific location where the breakdown occurred, daytime temperatures in the South China Sea in late July averaged between 89 degrees and 98 degrees Fahrenheit (32 to 37 Celsius), weather records show.

Carl Schuster, a former US Navy captain, who said he endured about four hours aboard a destroyer without power once near Puerto Rico, described what it’s like in such a scenario.

“It would have been quite stressful. Operations officers were worried about crew morale and operational concerns, the engineers were focused on how to solve it and the navigator was worried about the direction they were drifting and what weather was coming. The crew was worried about weather, food and what was next. The (commanding officer) and (executive officer) were worried about all of that and when help would arrive,” said Schuster.

“I can assure you four hours in the waters southeast of Puerto Rico is not nearly as stressful as four days in the South China Sea,” he added.

The Navy said a second US warship, the guided-missile cruiser USS Robert Smalls, provided cooked meals to the Benfold during the power loss. Other ships in the Japan-based USS George Washington Carrier Strike Group also provided aid during the four days the Benfold was powerless before being towed to Subic Bay in the Philippines for repairs, according to Comer.

The repairs were completed by August 8, and the ship returned to duty, the Navy statement said.

The USS George Washington Carrier Strike Group is on its way to the Middle East to relieve the Lincoln and its group, a Navy official told CNN. But the Navy did not say Monday if the Benfold had been sent along with the Washington CSG to the waters off Iran.

Ship spotters in Japan reported the vessel has arrived there, according to USNI News.

The Benfold incident is the second loss of power to have hit a US Navy destroyer in Pacific Command’s area of responsibility – which stretches from the waters off the US West Coast to the western border of India, and from the North Pole to Antarctica.

In May, the USS Higgins lost power and propulsion for several hours in the Indo-Pacific region, a US defense official told CNN at the time, after suffering what a Navy statement called an “engineering casualty” in its electrical system. They did not specify where that incident occurred.

Arleigh Burke-class destroyers like the Benfold and Higgins are the workhorses of the US Navy’s surface fleet, with more than 70 in service.

Depending on configurations, the 500-foot-long ships, almost 10,000-ton displacement ships, carry crews of 329 to 359.

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