That would be the only shared thing that could possibly do it and a bad enough contamination no number of filters could fix. That or an issues with batteries I've seen before on other type small craft where the engine had to be shut down. But I agree with Travis. I've heard back in my day of 30-50 foot boats tied off to ships breaking away from their booms in the night and drifting off with it's crew onboard sleeping {which was normal and allowed in these cases those were liberty boats used to haul 175 men}. Worse case scenario they drifted a few miles off out to sea and when they woke up the crew radioed back to the ship their status for help.
To have done what is said those boats did a break down and drift into Iranian waters was way too far for that to happen and not a route the boats would take. And he is also right you don't drop or recover Special Teams in daylight and especially sit and wait. I didn't know how many it took to fully man the boats but he said 10 per boat and that sounds right for gunners, deck crew, etc. The crews onboard were simply to relocate it in what they considered a safe move.
Iran saw a blip on their scopes and an obvious opportunity and snatched them in International Waters likely less than ten miles out at sea. Remember how the Somalia pirates operated? They used high speed small craft that looked civilian.
Now my question would be since the Navy knew the boats were ordered to new port why wasn't a larger ship or three standing close by or air support alerted? Why? Because Obama administration has our ships sitting in port with minimal numbers deployed.
Usually that stuff is either at the top or the bottom of the tank. One can play gravity games with valves to titrate off the good stuff to make enough clean fuel for at least one engine out of four to run. That's good enough for me on the high seas.
As to filters, it depends upon whether they are primary or secondary, the former usually being a trap and screen. I had one on a military motor made in the fifties that was a series of stacked disks with every other ganged to either a shaft down the middle or one on the outside. To clean it one merely turned the handle.
The big problem with modern engines is that they run with the latest and "greatest" enviro-hooey modifications that make them much more susceptible to contamination. The idiot designers are still using high pressure direct orifices instead of something a little more tolerant, such as swirl nozzles. It's what the manufacturers are accustomed to making.
Now my question would be since the Navy knew the boats were ordered to new port why wasn't a larger ship or three standing close by or air support alerted? Why? Because Obama administration has our ships sitting in port with minimal numbers deployed.
Commander Xero would hold them off if they were a few hundred yards away if the Iranians were already on the scene.