$360 Million Navy Ship Breaks Down After Less Than a Month at Sea

Less than a month after it was commissioned, the $360 million USS Milwaukee broke down and had to be towed 40 miles to shore.

Metallic debris in the littoral combat ship’s port and starboard combining gear filter systems caused it to break down on Thursday; it was taken to Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek, Virginia, the Navy Times reports. The ship was on its way from Halifax, Canada, to Mayport, Florida, and is eventually meant to dock in its home port of San Diego.

Sen. John McCain said in his capacity as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee that the very premature breakdown was “deeply alarming,” noting, “U.S. Navy ships are built with redundant systems to enable continued operation in the event of an engineering casualty, which makes this incident very concerning.”

[Navy Times]