US Destroyer Loses Power for Four Days in South China Sea

By Staff, Agencies

A US Navy destroyer spent four days without power in the South China Sea last month, leaving its crew without hot meals, flushing toilets, air conditioning, and drinking water, CNN reported.

The USS Benfold, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, suffered an "engineering casualty involving its generators" while taking part in an exercise in the South China Sea, according to a Navy spokesman cited by CNN.

The Benfold lost the ability to maneuver independently, as well as galley services, toilets, air conditioning, and drinking water.

Temperatures in the South China Sea averaged between 32 and 37 degrees Celsius at the time.

The guided-missile cruiser USS Robert Smalls provided hot meals to the Benfold's crew before the destroyer was towed to the Philippines for repairs. The vessel has since returned to duty.

The Benfold normally operates as part of the USS George Washington carrier strike group.

At the time of the breakdown, the group was conducting a so-called "freedom of navigation" exercise in the region, involving US warships sailing through China's exclusive economic zone in opposition to Beijing's maritime claims.

The USS George Washington has since been ordered to redeploy to the Persian Gulf to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln, whose crew have been at sea for nearly nine months.

Conditions aboard the Abraham Lincoln have reportedly deteriorated, with toilets allegedly out of order, food supplies running short, and multiple sailors reportedly attempting suicide.

The Pentagon has also rotated the USS Gerald R. Ford out of the Persian Gulf after the aircraft carrier experienced repeated malfunctions, including a fire in its laundry room and an overflow of raw sewage from its toilets.

The Ford, the only vessel of its class and the US Navy's most advanced aircraft carrier, is now undergoing repairs at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia, and is expected to remain out of service for approximately a year.