# A busted clutch shuts down a Navy ship **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 24, 2016, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-busted-clutch-shuts-down-a-navy-ship/747001 "2016-02-24T18:05:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DrumBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e79b87/32.png) [@DrumBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrumBum)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-busted-clutch-shuts-down-a-navy-ship/747001/1 "2016-02-24T18:05:32Z")
When I was learning to drive a stick I rode the clutch so badly that dad had to replace it twice. I guess the [Navy has the same problem.](http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/23/politics/navy-littoral-combat-ship-damaged/index.html) :smack: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-busted-clutch-shuts-down-a-navy-ship/747001/2 "2016-02-24T18:20:26Z")
They’re still relatively new ships. It takes a while to learn how they work. Sometimes, it’s called a “shakedown”. :: shrug :: ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-busted-clutch-shuts-down-a-navy-ship/747001/3 "2016-02-24T18:38:44Z")
Yeah. This is nothing new (unfortunately). New systems sometimes don’t seem to perform in the wild as well as expected in the drawing room. The first battle-cruiser, HMS Invincible, was outfitted with electrically driven turret training [rotating] engines. They had lots of problems with shorts, and such, rending the turret stuck immobile. > [@Wikipedia](#): > > She was refitted between 17 August and 17 January 1910 in an attempt to cure the electrical problems with her turrets, but they were still unsatisfactory. Another attempt was made to bring her turrets to working order during a refit in the spring of 1911, but this too was unsuccessful and the decision was made the following year to convert her turrets to hydraulic power. This was delayed until after her deployment to join the Mediterranean Fleet at the end of 1912. On 17 March 1913, she collided with the submarine HMS C34, but the collision was ruled the fault of the submarine. She returned to the UK in December 1913 in preparation for a major refit that would finally give her turrets hydraulic power and make her battle-worthy. So for five years, her turrets could not be relied upon as fully trustworthy! The whole purpose of a capital ship is to bring guns against the enemy 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-busted-clutch-shuts-down-a-navy-ship/747001/4 "2016-02-24T18:40:49Z")
“Gruber, get Tinker on that right away!” ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-busted-clutch-shuts-down-a-navy-ship/747001/5 "2016-02-24T19:51:42Z")
For whom is that a career-limiting incident? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-busted-clutch-shuts-down-a-navy-ship/747001/6 "2016-02-24T20:25:26Z")
> [@](#): > > The Navy said at the time that metallic debris was found in filter systems in the ship What, they don’t have chip detectors? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2016, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-busted-clutch-shuts-down-a-navy-ship/747001/7 "2016-02-25T03:12:44Z")
You forgot Invincible’s major claim to fame. Was hit by German shells at the Battle of Jutland and blew up catastrophically. There were only six survivors out of a crew of 1,032 officers and men. ---
**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-busted-clutch-shuts-down-a-navy-ship/747001/8 "2016-02-26T23:25:49Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > What, they don’t have chip detectors? 😕 I think that is what the filters ended up being used for. Sounds to me like someone skipped the page in the manual requiring both power trains to be at the same rpm before transferring over. Engineers never heard of an interlock? ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2016, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-busted-clutch-shuts-down-a-navy-ship/747001/9 "2016-02-28T20:06:22Z")
You know, it kind of reminds me of that scene in the _Star Trek_ reboot where they can’t get the ship moving because Chekov forgot to shift it out of park. It would appear that he has an ancestor who was in charge of piloting a Yankee wessel. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2016, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-busted-clutch-shuts-down-a-navy-ship/747001/10 "2016-02-28T21:11:39Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > What, they don’t have chip detectors? 😕 What, they don’t have automatic transmission? I’ll bet Navy ships lack heated seats and all-leather upholstery too. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2016, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-busted-clutch-shuts-down-a-navy-ship/747001/11 "2016-02-28T22:16:24Z")
> [@PoppaSan](#): > > I think that is what the filters ended up being used for. Sounds to me like someone skipped the page in the manual requiring both power trains to be at the same rpm before transferring over. Engineers never heard of an interlock? Look, you get a new car you have to change the oil and filter pretty soon after you drive it off the lot because the rough edges in the moving internal parts get shaved off. It’s pretty easy and fairly inexpensive for an automaker to do destructive testing to determine how soon and how often to change oil and filters. Naval ships are another matter, there’s a lot of data that still has to be gathered for the final owner’s manual when the first couple of ship hit the ocean. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-busted-clutch-shuts-down-a-navy-ship/747001/12 "2016-02-29T05:26:13Z")
It says it uses water jet propulsion. So no screws or propellers? ---
**Author:** ![BobArrgh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobarrgh/32/2881_2.png) [@BobArrgh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobArrgh)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-busted-clutch-shuts-down-a-navy-ship/747001/13 "2016-02-29T21:08:38Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > What, they don’t have automatic transmission With a manual transmission and a clutch, the Navy reduces the chances that someone will ship-jack their new vessel.