Builder Blames Navy as Brand-New Warship Disintegrates

``Independence's decay isn't a case of mere oxidation, which can usually be prevented by careful maintenance and cleaning. No, the 418-foot-long warship is dissolving due to one whopper of a design flaw. There are technical terms for this kind of disintegration. Austal USA, Independence's Alabama-based builder, calls it "galvanic corrosion." Civilian scientists know it as "electrolysis." It's what occurs when "two dissimilar metals, after being in electrical contact with one another, corrode at different rates," Austal explained in a statement. "That suggests to me the metal is completely gone, not rusted," naval analyst Raymond Pritchett wrote of Independence's problem.''