"Aylwin" remained afloat but, unmanned, was towed into Norfolk by "Parker" and U.S. Navy tug , arriving on 7 April. According to a report in "The Washington Post", "Aylwin" made it to port with only five hours of buoyancy to spare. The report described the fore deck of the ship as "badly rent and torn up" and noted that two of the destroyer's four stacks were knocked out of alignment by the blast, with one askew at a 25° angle from its normal position. The newspaper speculated that faulty metal in the No. 1 boiler's mud drum was the cause of the explosion. Although repairs were estimated to take roughly three months, "Aylwin" was placed out of commission and remained inactive for more than a year at the Norfolk Navy Yard.