DDG-1000 Destroyer, USS Zumwalt - Launched

USS Zumwalt hits the water as the largest Navy destroyer ever, and with a $7 billion dollar price tag, possibly the most expensive...

Despite rumours that the launch of the Zumwalt would be delayed until early 2014, the vessel was launched from its shipyard in Bath, Maine on 29 October 2013.

The USS Zumwalt, a massive 610-foot modern-day destroyer with an advanced rocket system, launched into the water off a Main dock on Monday, in a surprisingly quiet ceremony, given the vessel's record breaking size and unusual shape. It's the largest destroyer ever built for the U.S. Navy, and it's notable for its angular profile.

"It's absolutely massive," said Amy Lent, the executive director of the Maine Maritime Museum, in The Daily Mail. "It's higher than the tree line on the other side. It's an absolutely huge ship - very imposing. It's massively dominating the waterfront." 

The ship has a 155 mm "Advanced Gun System," with rocket-propelled warheads that can shoot 100 miles. And due to its high-technology component, it only requires half the normal amount of sailors to operate. But with a US $7.0 billion (total unit cost including R&D) dollar cost, it better be full of all sorts of tricks and gizmos.

The ship was set for a huge fanfare launch earlier this month. But plans were scaled back, due to the government shutdown.

The USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) is to be the lead ship of the Zumwalt-class of guided missile destroyers and the first ship to be named for Admiral Elmo Zumwalt. Many of the ship's features were originally developed under the DD21 program ("21st Century Destroyer"). In 2001, congress cut the DD-21 program by half as part of the SC21 program. To save it, the acquisition program was renamed as DD(X) and heavily reworked. The initial funding allocation for DDG-1000 was included in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2007. A contract worth $1.4 billion was awarded to General Dynamics on 14 February 2008 for the construction of USS Zumwalt at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine. Full rate production officially began on 11 February 2009.

As of July 2008, the construction timetable was for General Dynamics to deliver the ship in April 2013, with March 2015 as the target for the Zumwalt to meet her initial operating capability. However, by 2012, the planned completion and delivery of the vessel had slipped to the 2014 fiscal year.

The first section of the ship was laid down on the slipway at Bath Iron Works on 17 November 2011. By this point, fabrication of the ship was over 60% complete. The naming ceremony was planned for 19 October 2013, but was canceled due to the United States federal government shutdown of 2013.

Despite rumours that the launch of the Zumwalt would be delayed until early 2014, the vessel was launched from its shipyard in Bath, Maine on 29 October 2013. Bath Iron Works craftsmen will keep working on the ship in the water. Workers hope to christen it this spring, and send it along for some trial sea runs in the fall of 2014. It will then be delivered to the U.S. Navy in 2015. 

"The Zumwalt is really in a league of its own," said defense consultant Eric Wertheim, in the Daily Mail.