The U.S. Navy’s new futuristic destroyer, the USS Zumwalt, began sea trials earlier this week.
The USS Zumwalt, the most expensive destroyer ever built by the Navy, hit the Atlantic Ocean Monday.
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A high price tag shouldn’t come as a surprise, as the USS Zumwalt is also unlike any ship the Navy has ever seen.
According to the U.S. Navy’s website:
Developed under the DD(X) destroyer program, the Zumwalt-class destroyer (DDG 1000) is the lead ship of a class of next-generation multi-mission surface combatants tailored for land attack and littoral dominance with capabilities that defeat current and projected threats. DDG 1000 will triple naval surface fires coverage as well as tripling capability against anti-ship cruise missiles. DDG 1000 has a 50-fold radar cross section reduction compared to current destroyers, improves strike group defense 10-fold and has 10 times the operating area in shallow water regions against mines. For today’s warfighter, DDG 1000 fills an immediate and critical naval-warfare gap, meeting validated Marine Corps fire support requirements.
… The wave-piercing Tumblehome ship design has provided a wide array of advancements. The composite superstructure significantly reduces cross section and acoustic output making the ship harder to detect by enemies at sea. The design also allows for optimal manning with a standard crew size of 158 sailors (including air det) thereby decreasing lifecycle operations and support costs.
DDG 1000 will employ active and passive sensors and a Multi-Function Radar (MFR) capable of conducting area air surveillance, including over-land, throughout the extremely difficult and cluttered sea-land interface.
Each ship features a battery of two Advanced Gun Systems (AGS) firing Long-Range Land Attack Projectiles (LRLAP) that reach up to 63 nautical miles, providing a three-fold range improvement in naval surface fires coverage.
For more information on the USS Zumwalt, please visit Navy.mil.
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