The generator that produces oxygen on board the USS New Hampshire failed last week while the submarine was in the Arctic Ocean, according to the Navy.
The New Hampshire has a back-up system to produce oxygen should the primary system fail, a Navy spokeswoman said Tuesday. Redundancy is critical on a platform as complex as a submarine, she said.
The Groton-based submarine is testing its operations in Arctic waters as part of the 2011 Ice Exercise. The New Hampshire (SSN 778) is the first Virginia-class submarine to participate in an ICEX.
An oxygen generator exploded on a British nuclear submarine, the HMS Tireless, in March 2007, killing two sailors when the submarine was beneath the Arctic ice.
Saturday, the New Hampshire surfaced to medically evacuate a sailor thought to have appendicitis, the Navy said. That sailor was transferred to Anchorage, Alaska, for treatment.
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