US destroyer spent four days without power, toilets, or AC in South China Sea
Note: AI technology was used to generate this article’s audio.
A US Navy guided-missile destroyer spent four days without working toilets, galley services, air conditioning or reliable potable water after losing power in the South China Sea last month.
The Arleigh Burke-class USS Benfold suffered an “engineering casualty involving its generators” on July 24 while conducting routine operations in the Indo-Pacific, Navy Cmdr. Matthew Comer, a spokesperson for the U.S. 7th Fleet, said in a statement.
The nearly 10,000-ton warship lost the ability to maneuver independently and saw essential systems fail in temperatures that routinely reached 89 to 98 degrees Fahrenheit (32 to 37 Celsius).
“There were no injuries to the crew, who demonstrated resilience, grit, professionalism, and unwavering steadiness in their response,” Comer said.
The Navy said the exact cause remains under investigation.
The guided-missile cruiser USS Robert Smalls provided cooked meals to the Benfold’s crew during the outage.
Other ships from the Japan-based USS George Washington Carrier Strike Group also offered assistance.
The disabled destroyer was eventually towed to Subic Bay in the Philippines for repairs.
Power was restored on July 30.
All required repairs were completed by August 8, after which the Benfold returned to duty and later arrived in Yokosuka, Japan.
Former Navy Capt. Carl Schuster, who once experienced a shorter power loss aboard a destroyer near Puerto Rico, described the conditions the sailors faced.
“It would have been quite stressful,” he said.
“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.”
“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,” Schuster added.
The incident is the second reported power loss involving a US destroyer in the Pacific this year and comes amid broader concerns about the strain of extended global deployments on the fleet.
