![]() ![]() It took nearly three hours to attach emergency controls to the engines, and the Yorktown then limped into port. When the Yorktown’s computer system tried to divide by zero, 80,000 horsepower instantly became worthless. Hidden, that is, until the software called it into memory-and choked. But for one reason or another, the zero was overlooked, and it stayed hidden in the code. Unfortunately, nobody had spotted the time bomb lurking in the code, a zero that engineers were supposed to remove while installing the software. The Yorktown’s computers had just received new software that was controlling the engines. ![]() Though it was armored against weapons, nobody had thought to defend the Yorktown from zero. Warships are designed to withstand the strike of a torpedo or the blast of a mine. On September 21, 1997, while cruising off the coast of Virginia, the billion-dollar missile cruiser shuddered to a halt. Zero hit the USS Yorktown like a torpedo. ![]()
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