Story highlights Littoral combat ship USS Milwaukee was damaged less than a month after commissioning

Navy officials say a clutch failed to disengage when the ship was switching between propulsion systems

(CNN) Imagine you just got that brand-new top-of-the-line sports car and you take it out for that first road trip and -- you blow the clutch.

Now imagine that your hot new ride is a $360 million warship.

Well, that's about what happened to the USS Milwaukee, one of the U.S. Navy's newest littoral combat ships.

The 388-foot, 3,400-ton Milwaukee broke down in the Atlantic Ocean on December 10, less than a month after it was commissioned. The ship had to be towed 40 miles to Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story in Virginia.

The Navy said at the time that metallic debris was found in filter systems in the ship, causing a loss of pressure in lubricant to gears that transfer power from the ship's diesel and gas turbine engines to its water jet propulsion system.

Read More