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Military

USS Zumwalt starts stealthy voyage to San Diego home port

By David Szondy
September 09, 2016
USS Zumwalt starts stealthy voyage to San Diego home port
The USS Zumwalt departing Bath Iron Works in Maine, marking the beginning of a 3-month journey to its new homeport in San Diego
The USS Zumwalt departing Bath Iron Works in Maine, marking the beginning of a 3-month journey to its new homeport in San Diego
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The soon-to-be-commissioned guided-missile destroyer USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) transits the Atlantic Ocean during acceptance trials April 21
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The soon-to-be-commissioned guided-missile destroyer USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) transits the Atlantic Ocean during acceptance trials April 21
The USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) passing the USS Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001) as Zumwalt departs Bath Iron Works
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The USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) passing the USS Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001) as Zumwalt departs Bath Iron Works
The USS Zumwalt departing Bath Iron Works in Maine, marking the beginning of a 3-month journey to its new homeport in San Diego
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The USS Zumwalt departing Bath Iron Works in Maine, marking the beginning of a 3-month journey to its new homeport in San Diego
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The US Navy has revealed that its largest-ever destroyer, and most technologically-advanced surface ship to date, left the Bath Iron Works in Maine, US, on Wednesday and is preparing for its three-month journey to its home port in San Diego. The USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) has completed its sea trials and will join the fleet after its commissioning ceremony in Baltimore on October 15.

According to the Navy, the Zumwalt's crew of 147 under Captain James Kirk (no, not the one from Star Trek) have completed their engineering light off assessment and crew certification in record time over a three-month period.

When the Zumwalt is commissioned, it will begin its journey to its homeport of San Diego with several visits at various ports scheduled. However, its arrival in San Diego will not be a rest stop because it will then take part in Post Delivery Availability and Mission Systems Activation exercises before being integrated into the fleet in 2018.

The USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) passing the USS Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001) as Zumwalt departs Bath Iron Works
The USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) passing the USS Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001) as Zumwalt departs Bath Iron Works

At 610-ft (186 m) long and 80.7-ft (25 m) wide, the Zumwalt is significantly larger than previous US destroyers with 100 ft (30 m) more length and 13 ft (4 m) more beam than the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.

The Zumwalt is named after Admiral Elmo R. "Bud" Zumwalt Jr., former chief of naval operations from 1970 to 1974. It's notable for its composite superstructure and wave-piercing tumblehome hull designed to make it 50-times stealthier than current ships to help it in its task as a multi-mission land attack and littoral dominance warship.

In addition, it is the first US Navy surface warship to use an integrated power system (IPS) to provide electric power for both propulsion and weapon systems. At about 78 megawatts, it has almost as much generating capacity as a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

Source: US Navy

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7 comments
David Szondy
David Szondy
David Szondy is a playwright, author and journalist based in Seattle, Washington. A retired field archaeologist and university lecturer, he has a background in the history of science, technology, and medicine with a particular emphasis on aerospace, military, and cybernetic subjects. In addition, he is the author of four award-winning plays, a novel, reviews, and a plethora of scholarly works ranging from industrial archaeology to law. David has worked as a feature writer for many international magazines and has been a feature writer for New Atlas since 2011.

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7 comments
groingo2
Another complete waste of time and tax dollars, it may be stealthy but you don't need stealth technology to see that giant target coming, don' t even need to paint an X on it....should nick name it the "Sitting Duck" !
LaurencePotgieter
costs how much ? conservatively say USD 1.5-billion. and who is it that is going to invade the US ? the Russians and Chinese are not so stupid as to waste their taxpayer money fighting remote wars on behalf of the bank-military-pharmaceutical-oil industrial complex. much cheaper to wait for the foolish westerners to bankrupt themselves, starting with their taxpayers first, since they have been propagandised so effectively by said complex. you can't fix stupid..... a 1.5 billion stupid boat.
CliffG
groingo2, you clearly have no clue regarding its weapon systems that are effective well over the horizon. At war, there is no seeing this vessel.
Ken Brody
Zumwalt has the radar signature of a small fishing boat and the standoff capability to destroy a target over the horizon. Getting close enough for a visual image will not be easy.
agulesin
From Wiki: "Originally 32 ships were planned, with the $9.6 billion research and development costs spread across the class, but the quantity was reduced to 24, then to 7, and finally to 3, greatly increasing the cost-per-ship."
Why not just spend the money and not build ANY ships at all? then you'll save fuel, sailor's wages, and the lives of those this was designed to terminate... ;-)
David A Galler
The logic of such a vessel seems strained .Among the duties of the Navy are guarding shipping lanes .Some of the merchant vessels are over 300,000 tons and travel equivalent land speeds of over 40 MPH at those speeds the ships can't brake and their steering is sluggish .It would be advisable to be detected by radar so as to avoid embarrassment .
JohnMartin
Seems ,David is confusing ferry vessels that do 30 to 40 knots thats 34 to 46 miles per hour, with cargo ships, but David a 300,000 ton carg carrier, does at best 15 knots which is equivalent to 17 miles per hour.