US Navy poised to take ownership of its largest destroyer, the futuristic and stealthy Zumwalt

Reading Time:2 minutes

The guided-missile destroyer USS Zumwalt departs Bath, Maine to conduct sea trials on April 20,. Photo: Reuters

Published: 2:40pm, 16 May 2016Updated: 2:40pm, 16 May 2016

The US Navy is ready to take ownership of the Zumwalt, its largest and most technologically sophisticated destroyer.

Sailors’ uniforms and personal effects, supplies and spare parts are being moved aboard the 185-metre warship in anticipation of crew members taking on their new charge, said Capt. James Kirk, the destroyer’s skipper.

The Zumwalt is the first new class of warship built at Bath Iron Works since the Arleigh Burke slid into the Kennebec River in 1989. The shipyard is expected to turn the destroyer over to the Navy this week.

“We’ve overcome lots of obstacles to get to this point,” said electrician John Upham, of Litchfield. “I think everybody in the shipyard is proud of the work we’ve done.”

An artist rendering of a Zumwalt class destroyer, a new class of multi-mission US Navy surface combatant ship designed to operate as part of a joint maritime fleet, assisting Marine strike forces ashore as well as performing littoral, air and sub-surface warfare. Photo: US Navy

The ship features an angular shape that makes it 50 times more difficult to detect on radar; it’s powered by electricity produced by turbines similar to those in a Boeing 777; new guns are designed to pummel targets from nearly 100 miles away. Advanced automation will allow the big ship to operate with a much smaller crew than on current generation of destroyers.

The final cost of the Zumwalt is expected to be at least US$4.4 billion.

The original concept for the land-attack destroyer was floated more than 15 years ago then underwent several permutations. The final design called for a destroyer with a stealthy shape and advanced gun system that can fire rocket-propelled projectiles with pinpoint accuracy.