The Zumwalt, the most expensive... (Associated Press) 
 
 PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The most expensive destroyer ever built for the Navy suffered an engineering problem in the Panama Canal and had to be towed to port. The guided missile destroyer will undergo repairs at a former U.S. naval station until its fit to complete its journey to Naval Station San Diego, Calif., U.S. 3rd Fleet spokesman Cmdr. USNI News, a publication of the U.S. Ryan Perry said a vice admiral directed the USS Zumwalt to remain at ex-Naval Station Rodman in Panama to address the issues, which arose on Monday. “The schedule for the ship will remain flexible to enable testing and evaluation in order to ensure the ship’s safe transit to her new homeport in San Diego.” 
 
 A defense official told USNI News on Tuesday the repairs could take up to ten days. The ship lost propulsion in its port shaft during the transit and the crew saw water intrusion in two of the four bearings that connect to Zumwalt’s port and starboard Advanced Induction Motors (AIMs) to the drive shafts, a defense official told USNI News on Tuesday. The ship made minor contact with lock walls in the canal resulting in minor cosmetic damage. The latest casualty follows an incident in September following the ship’s transit from shipbuilder General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, Maine to Naval Station Norfolk, Va. in which the crew discovered “a seawater leak in the propulsion motor drive lube oil auxiliary system for one of the ship’s shafts,” the Navy told USNI News at the time. Before the casualty, the ship was set to arrive in San Diego by the end of the year and start weapon system activation period before joining the fleet as an operational warship sometime in 2018. The ship is part of the first new class of warship built at Bath Iron Works in more than 25 years.
– The Navy's new $4.4 billion "stealth destroyer" USS Zumwalt stealthily broke down in the Panama Canal this week, bumped into the lock walls, and had to be towed to port. The destroyer, which was on its way from Baltimore to San Diego, will now spend time at ex-Rodman Naval Station for repairs, reports the AP, which notes that the ship is the most expensive destroyer the Navy has ever had. According to the US Naval Institute, the Zumwalt suffered an "engineering casualty" while going through the canal. The ship lost propulsion during the incident and also suffered water intrusion to bearings that connect driveshafts to motors, reports USNI News. Officials say the problem is similar to one that the 610-foot ship suffered in September, when it lost propulsion on the way from Bath Iron Works in Maine, where it was built, to Baltimore, where it was commissioned in October. When it gets moving again, the Zumwalt will continue to Naval Base San Diego, where its futuristic weapon systems will be activated before it enters service in 2018. (The Navy can't afford ammunition for the destroyer's "Advanced Gun System.")