Zumwalt-class destroyer

USS Zumwalt underway in 2016
Class overview
NameZumwalt class
BuildersBath Iron Works, Ingalls Shipbuilding
Operators United States Navy
Preceded byArleigh Burke class
Succeeded by
Cost
  • $22.5 billion program cost (FY15)[1]
  • $4.24B per unit (excl R&D) as of 2016[2]
In commission15 October 2016[3]
Planned32
Completed3
Cancelled29
Active2
General characteristics
TypeGuided-missile destroyer
Displacement15,656 long tons (15,907 t)[4]
Length610 ft (190 m)[4]
Beam80.7 ft (24.6 m)
Draft27.6 ft (8.4 m)
Propulsion
  • 2 × Rolls-Royce MT30 gas turbines (35.4 MW (47,500 hp) each)[5] driving Curtiss-Wright electric generators[6]
  • 2 × Rolls-Royce RR4500 turbine generators (3.8 MW (5,100 hp) each)[5]
  • 2 × propellers driven by electric motors
  • Total: 78 MW (105,000 shp)[5]
Speed30 kn (56 km/h; 35 mph)[4]
Complement147 +28 in air detachment[4]
Sensors and
processing systems		AN/SPY-3 Multi-Function Radar (MFR) (X band active electronically scanned array)[7]
Armament
Aircraft carried
Aviation facilitiesFlight deck and enclosed hangar for up to two medium-lift helicopters

The Zumwalt-class destroyer is a class of three United States Navy guided-missile destroyers designed as multi-mission stealth ships with a focus on land attack. The class was designed with a primary role of naval gunfire support and secondary roles of surface warfare and anti-aircraft warfare. The class design emerged from the DD-21 "land attack destroyer" program as "DD(X)" and was intended to take the role of battleships in meeting a congressional mandate for naval fire support.[12] The ship is designed around its two Advanced Gun Systems (AGS), turrets with 920 round magazines, and unique Long Range Land Attack Projectile (LRLAP) ammunition.[9] LRLAP procurement was canceled, rendering the guns unusable,[9] so the Navy re-purposed the ships for surface warfare.[13] Starting in 2023, the Navy will remove the AGS from the ships and replace them with hypersonic missiles.[14]

The ships are classed as destroyers, but they are much larger than any other active destroyers or cruisers in the U.S. Navy.[15] The vessels' distinctive appearance results from the design requirement for a low radar cross-section (RCS). The Zumwalt class has a wave-piercing tumblehome hull form whose sides slope inward above the waterline, dramatically reducing RCS by returning much less energy than a conventional flare hull form.

The class has an integrated electric propulsion (IEP) system that can send electricity from its turbo-generators to the electric drive motors or weapons, the Total Ship Computing Environment Infrastructure (TSCEI), automated fire-fighting systems, and automated piping rupture isolation.[16] The class is designed to require a smaller crew and to be less expensive to operate than comparable warships.

The lead ship is named Zumwalt for Admiral Elmo Zumwalt and carries the hull number DDG 1000. Originally, 32 ships were planned, with $9.6 billion research and development costs spread across the class. As costs overran estimates, the number was reduced to 24, then to 7; finally, in July 2008, the Navy requested that Congress stop procuring Zumwalts and revert to building more Arleigh Burke destroyers. Only three Zumwalts were ultimately built. The average costs of construction accordingly increased, to $4.24 billion,[1][17][18][2] well exceeding the per-unit cost of a nuclear-powered Virginia-class submarine ($2.688 billion),[19][20] and with the program's large development costs now attributable to only three ships, rather than the 32 originally planned, the total program cost per ship jumped. In April 2016 the total program cost was $22.5 billion,[2] $7.5 billion per ship. The per-ship increases triggered a Nunn–McCurdy Amendment breach.[21]

  1. ^ a b "GAO-15-342SP DEFENSE ACQUISITIONS Assessments of Selected Weapon Programs" (PDF). US Government Accountability Office. March 2015. p. 73. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
  2. ^ a b c "Navy Requires $450 Million More to Complete Zumwalt-Class Due to Shipyard Performance" Archived 18 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine. usni.org, 6 April 2016.
  3. ^ Bubala, Mary (16 October 2016). "Historic And Cutting Edge USS Zumwalt Commissioned in Baltimore". WJZ-TV. Archived from the original on 18 October 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Destroyers – DDG fact file". U.S. Navy. 28 February 2018. Archived from the original on 17 December 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  5. ^ a b c Kasper, Joakim (20 September 2015). "About the Zumwalt Destroyer". AeroWeb. Archived from the original on 22 October 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference d05752r was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ CRS RL32109 Navy DDG-51 and DDG-1000 Destroyer Programs: Background and Issues for Congress. CRS, 14 June 2010.
  8. ^ "MK 57 Vertical Launch System" (PDF). Raytheon. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2012.
  9. ^ a b c LaGrone, Sam (11 January 2018). "No New Round Planned For Zumwalt Destroyer Gun System; Navy Monitoring Industry". USNI News. U.S. Naval Institute. Archived from the original on 3 March 2018. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  10. ^ "Navy Planning on Not Buying More LRLAP Rounds for Zumwalt Class". 7 November 2016.
  11. ^ "Navy Swaps Out Anti-Swarm Boat Guns on DDG-1000s". News.USNI.org. 5 August 2014. Archived from the original on 31 October 2014.
  12. ^ Section 1011 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 (Public Law 104-106; 110 Stat. 421)
  13. ^ Eckstein, Megan (4 December 2017). "New Requirements for DDG-1000 Focus on Surface Strike". USNI News. U.S. Naval Institute. Archived from the original on 4 March 2018. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  14. ^ LaGrone, Sam (16 March 2022). "Latest Zumwalt Hypersonic Missile Installation Plan Calls For Removing Gun Mounts". USNI News. Retrieved 8 May 2022.
  15. ^ Sanchez, Lucia (January–March 2007). "Electromagnetic Railgun – A "Navy After Next" Game Changer". CHIPS – the Department of the Navy Information Technology Magazine. Archived from the original on 11 November 2013. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference ndaa69-70 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ "Cutting-edge Navy warship being built in Maine". Fox News. 12 April 2012. Archived from the original on 15 April 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2012.
  18. ^ The US Navy's budget request for two Virginias in fiscal year 2016 (FY2016) was $5,376.9 million, including $2,030.4M for advance funding from previous years.
  19. ^ "RL32418, Navy Virginia (SSN-774) Class Attack Submarine Procurement: Background and Issues for Congress" (PDF). Congressional Research Service. 27 May 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 October 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
  20. ^ "Root Cause Analyses of Nunn-McCurdy Breaches – Zumwalt-Class Destroyer, Joint Strike Fighter, Longbow Apache, and Wideband Global Satellite," Rand Corporation (2011); see Vol. 1, Ch. 3 via http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG1171z1.html Archived 19 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine