While the USS Washington carrier strike group was transiting the Malacca Strait en route to the Middle East, observers noticed that the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Benfold, which had been operating with the group, quietly returned to the US Fleet Activities Yokosuka in Japan. According to the Stars and Stripes on the 17th, US 7th Fleet spokesperson Matthew Comer revealed that the Benfold experienced an “engineering incident” in the South China Sea on July 24, losing all electrical power due to a generator failure and drifting for four full days.
The news was first disclosed by the US Naval Institute website on August 14. According to a statement from 7th Fleet spokesperson Matthew Comer, on July 24, while conducting routine patrols in the Indo-Pacific region, the Benfold reported a generator malfunction that caused a power outage. Fortunately, no crew members were injured.
However, the situation was clearly more severe than the official account suggests. The loss of electrical power meant the crew had no access to essential services such as kitchen equipment, restrooms, and air conditioning. Given the hot and humid conditions in the South China Sea, the reality on board was likely far worse than what the US Navy publicly acknowledged.
Comer also mentioned that the ship’s drinking water supply was affected but did not answer questions about how the crew handled waste disposal during the outage.
Eventually, with the assistance of a defense contractor’s tugboat, the Benfold was towed to Subic Bay in the Philippines. On July 28, maintenance personnel from the regional repair center in Japan boarded the vessel to begin repairs. By July 30, the destroyer’s electrical system was finally restored.
According to Stars and Stripes, all repair work on the Benfold was completed by August 7. After refueling, the destroyer left Subic Bay on August 8. However, observers noted that the ship did not rejoin the USS Washington carrier strike group for the journey to the Middle East but instead returned to Yokosuka. Comer stated that the US Navy is investigating the cause of the engineering failure.
A retired US Navy veteran commented on social media that the Burke-class destroyers are designed with “redundant systems” for wartime resilience, featuring three generators in separate compartments that should theoretically serve as backups for one another, making a total ship-wide blackout highly unlikely. Therefore, the Benfold’s complete power loss and loss of propulsion are quite unusual, suggesting possible major lapses in the US military’s maintenance and management procedures.
In recent years, the US Navy has experienced multiple similar incidents. For example, on April 28 of this year, another Burke-class destroyer, the USS Higgins, suffered an electrical fire while sailing in the Indo-Pacific region, causing a total loss of power and propulsion, leaving the ship adrift for several hours.
These recurring incidents have also fueled external skepticism regarding the US Navy’s ship maintenance and management standards.
