The USS Michael Monsoor, the second and latest Zumwalt-class stealth destroyer, suffered an equipment failure that prevented the ship from conducting sea trials. The ship returned to the shipyard for a fix. The repairs are not expected to delay handover of the ship to the U.S. Navy in March.

The Monsoor left Bath Iron Works shipyard in Maine on December 4th to conduct builder’s trials. All ships conduct builder’s trials, in order to test key systems before handing them over to their buyer. According to Reuters, “Monsoor’s problem was electrical in nature, with the loss of an induction coil causing the failure of another system. The shipbuilder decided it would be more efficient to make the fix at the yard.”

The Portland Press Herald of Portland, Maine wrote that the problem “prevented workers from testing propulsion and electrical systems at full power,” and that the ship returned to Bath Iron Works under its own power and will return to trials as soon as the ship is fixed. Here's a U.S. Navy video of the ship leaving for trials:

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The $4-billion-per-ship Zumwalt-class destroyers feature an advanced electrical generation system that powers the ship’s engines, electronics, weapons and propulsion systems. The Integrated Power System (IPS) on the Zumwalt can generate up to 80 megawatts of power, far more than the current Burke-class destroyers, on the expectation that the new ships will be equipped with a new generation of power-hungry weaponry, including electromagnetic railguns and lasers.

More than a year ago the first and lead ship of the class, USS Zumwalt suffered an engineering malfunction during trials that sidelined the ship for two weeks. In November 2016, while, transiting the Panama Canal en route to its new homeport in San Diego, Zumwalt lost power and collided with the canal walls, causing “minor cosmetic damage” to the ship.

The U.S. Navy is building three Zumwalt-class destroyers. Originally designed to bombard land targets with a pair of 155-millimeter guns firing precision-guided shells, the Navy decided the shells were too expensive and is in the process of shifting the destroyers’ mission from land attack to sinking other ships. Last week, Popular Mechanics reported the Navy was turning away from railguns to explore other technologies. While all warships will eventually have IPS technology, it appears the Zumwalts won’t be using their advanced power generation capabilities to power high energy weapons anytime soon.

Although slightly disappointing, Monsoor’s problem is relatively minor. The entire IPS system didn’t fail, unlike what apparently happened in the Panama Canal, and Bath Iron Works sounds like it is on top of the problem. The IPS is the first of its kind to go to sea on a warship, and problems are inevitable as the shipbuilder and the Navy iron out issues with the technology.

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