http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/12/12...g-down-at.html

wrong oil ?, wrong, type of heads, cam, rods, rings?....wrong "engine designer"?....did it have XR drives ?.....did it have used 1075 parts in it ?

cable broke on the steering ?? maybe the alpha went south

Cruiser wake dislodged the oil pump. Kaboom.

"metal debris collected in the lube oil filer, causing the system to shut down"
That's the PC/DNC way of saying "we blew a motor."

Like I heard once:
'It was an electrical connectivity problem. The piston came up, and whacked the spark plug, which knocked the spark plug wire off.'

Gas turbines!

There's no several page threads and bickering on OSO about gas turbines

I was a Gas Turbine Tech in the Navy - even pre-commished a cruiser at Bath Iron Works where this ship was built.

What shut this ship down was the most feared casualty to the main propulsion system that can happen: FUD (Fuk... Up Debris) in the main Reduction Gear Lube Oil System. The snipe on watch probably discovered it when he was cleaning the lube oil purifier soon after the ship got underway - a task I did so many times while I was in watch in the engine room. Not sure if the reduction gear locked up or if they just kept finding shavings and shut it down before the inevitable.

The main reduction gear is kept under lock and key because it would be so easy to incapacitate the ship by throwing something in there and in 99% of cases if something does go wrong with the reduction gear it's beyond the capacity of the ships personal to fix it. That's a job for the shipyard and the boys at Western Gear. http://youtu.be/YLQW2QJ_fzQ

could of been the caterpillar propulsion drive system failure

My guess is the multicombulator disconfigured. Sixty percent of the time it'll get you every time.

Ethanol gas ate the fuel tanks

The Flux Capacitor failed to discharge causing the Turbo Encabulator (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac7G7xOG2Ag) to toss it's cookies into the Drive Lube Reservoir. This in turn fed radioactive debris into the Alpha Drive. Since the Navy had something bigger than a small block powering the ship, I doubt Mercury will warranty the fix. This means the tax payer will be on the hook for it - again.