Fire aboard Navy destroyer USS Higgins, officials say

A fire broke out Tuesday on the USS Higgins, a guided-missile destroyer and a mainstay of the Navy's forward presence in Asia, according to U.S. officials.

The fire knocked out electricity and propulsion on the destroyer, one of the officials told CBS News, speaking under condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly.

It was contained to one piece of equipment, and the flames didn't spread.

The Higgins “experienced a loss of power throughout the ship,” Cmdr. Matthew Comer, a spokesperson for the US 7th Fleet, said in the statement Friday.

“Initial reports indicate an electrical malfunction, which may have produced sparking or smoke that ceased once power was removed,” Comer said.

Power and propulsion have been restored aboard the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, Comer said.

But a defense official told CNN the power and propulsion outage lasted “several hours.”