Zumwalt class destroyer
Encyclopedia
The Zumwalt class destroyer (DDG-1000) is a planned class of United States Navy
destroyer
s, designed as multi-mission ships with a focus on land attack. The class is a scaled-back project that emerged after funding cuts to the larger DD-21 vessel program. The program was previously known as the "DD(X)". The Zumwalt-class destroyers are multi-role and designed for surface warfare, anti-aircraft, and naval fire support. They take the place of the battleships in filling the former congressional mandate for naval fire support, though the requirement was reduced to allow them to fill this role. The vessel's appearance has been compared to that of the historic ironclad.
The DDG-1000 is planned to feature a low radar profile; an integrated power system, which can send electricity to the electric drive motors or weapons, which may someday include a railgun
or free-electron lasers
; total ship computing environment infrastructure, serving as the ship's primary LAN and as the hardware-independent platform for all of the ship's software ensembles; automated fire-fighting systems and automated piping rupture isolation. The destroyer is being designed to require a smaller crew and be less expensive to operate than comparable warships. It will have a wave-piercing
tumblehome
hull form whose sides slope inward above the waterline. This will reduce the radar cross-section, returning much less energy than a more hard-angled hull form. As of January 2009, the GAO
found that only four out of 12 of the DDG-1000's critical technologies were mature.
The lead ship
will be named Zumwalt
for Admiral Elmo Zumwalt
, and carries the hull number DDG-1000. Originally 32 ships were planned for the class, but this was progressively cut down to two, with three to be built currently. The Navy expects each ship to cost nearly $3.3 billion. The DOD's proposed 2010 budget called for three DDG-1000 ships to be produced.
program; to save it, the acquisition program was renamed as DD(X) and heavily reworked.
Originally, the Navy had hoped to build 32 of these destroyers. That number was later reduced to 24, then to 7, due to the high cost of new and experimental technologies to be incorporated in the destroyer. On 23 November 2005, the Defense Acquisition Board approved a plan for simultaneous construction of the first two DDG-1000 ships at Northrop’s Ingalls yard
in Pascagoula, MS and General Dynamics’ Bath Iron Works
in Bath, ME. However, as of that date, funding had yet to be authorized by Congress.
In late December 2005, the House and Senate agreed to continue funding the DDG-1000 program. The U.S. House of Representatives allotted the Navy only enough money to begin construction on one DDG-1000 destroyer as a "technology demonstrator." The initial funding allocation for the DDG-1000 destroyer was included in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2007. However, this was increased to two ships by the 2007 appropriations bill approved in September 2006, which allotted US$2,568m to the DDG-1000 program.
On 31 July 2008, U.S. Navy acquisition officials told Congress that the service needed to purchase more Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, and no longer needs the next-generation DDG-1000 class, Only the two approved destroyers would be built. The Navy said the world threat picture had changed in such a way that it now makes more sense to build at least eight more Burkes, rather than DDG-1000s. The Navy concluded from fifteen classified intelligence reports that the DDG-1000s would be vulnerable to forms of missile attacks. Many Congressional subcommittee members appeared incredulous that the Navy could have conducted such a sweeping re-evaluation of the world threat picture in just a few weeks, after spending some 13 years and $10 billion on the surface ship program known as DD-21, then DD(X) and finally, DDG-1000. That figure does not include the money spent for the two hulls (DDG-1000 and DDG-1001). Subsequently chief of naval operations Gary Roughead has cited the need to provide area air defense and specific new threats such as ballistic missiles and the possession of anti-ship missiles by groups such as Hezbollah. The mooted structural problems have not been discussed in public. Navy Secretary Donald Winter said on 4 September that "Making certain that we have — I’ll just say, a destroyer — in the ’09 budget is more important than whether that’s a DDG 1000 or a DDG 51".
On 19 August, Secretary Winter was reported as saying that a third Zumwalt would be built at Bath Iron Works, citing concerns about maintaining shipbuilding capacity. House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Murtha
said on 23 September 2008 that he had agreed to partial funding of the third DDG-1000 in the 2009 Defense authorization bill.
A 26 January 2009 memo from John Young, the US DoD's top acquisition official, stated that the per ship price for the Zumwalt destroyers had reached $5.964 billion, 81 percent over the Navy's original estimate used in proposing the program. If true, that means that the program has breached the Nunn–McCurdy Amendment
, requiring the Navy to recertify and rejustify the program to Congress.
On 6 April 2009, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced that DoD's proposed 2010 budget will end the DDG-1000 program at a maximum of three ships. Also in April, the Pentagon awarded a fixed-price contract with General Dynamics to build the three destroyers, replacing a cost-plus-fee contract that had been awarded to Northrop Grumman
. The first DDG-1000 destroyer is expected to cost $3.5 billion, the second is to cost approximately $2.5 billion, and the third even less.
is the Mission Systems Integrator. Both Northrop Grumman
Ship Systems and General Dynamics Bath Iron Works share dual-lead for the hull, mechanical, and electrical detailed design. BAE Systems Inc.
has the advanced gun system and the MK57 VLS
. Almost every major defense contractor (including Lockheed Martin
, Northrop Grumman Sperry Marine, L-3 Communications) and subcontractors from nearly every state in the U.S. are involved to some extent in this project, which is the largest single line item in the Navy's budget. During the previous contract, development and testing of 11 Engineering Development Models (EDMs) took place: Advanced Gun System
, Autonomic Fire Suppression System, Dual Band Radar [X-band and L-band], Infrared, Integrated Deckhouse & Apertures, Integrated Power System, Integrated Undersea Warfare, Peripheral Vertical Launch System, Total Ship Computing Environment, Tumblehome
Hull Form.
The decision in September 2006 to fund two ships meant that one could be built by the Bath Iron Works
in Maine and one by Northrop Grumman's Ingalls Shipbuilding
in Mississippi.
Northrop Grumman was awarded a $90m contract modification for materials and production planning on 13 November 2007. On 14 February 2008, Bath Iron Works was awarded a contract for the construction of the USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000), and Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding was awarded a contract for the construction of USS Michael Moonsoor (DDG 1001), at a cost of $1.4 billion each.
On 11 February 2009, full-rate production officially began on the first Zumwalt destroyer. Construction on the second ship of the class, Michael Moonsoor, began in March 2010. The keel for the first Zumwalt destroyer was laid on 17 November 2011.
The construction timetable in July 2008 was:
, and continue in the previous "gun destroyer" sequence left off with the last of the Spruance-class
, .
DDG-1001 will be named for Master-at-Arms 2nd Class (SEAL) Michael Monsoor, the second SEAL to receive the Medal of Honor
in the Global War on Terror (GWOT), the Navy announced on 29 October 2008.
There is an active civilian
campaign to persuade the Secretary of the Navy to name one of the class the USS Robert A. Heinlein
.
submarine. The tumblehome
hull reduces radar return and the composite material deckhouse also has a low radar return. Water sleeting along the sides, along with passive cool air induction in the mack
reduces thermal emissions.
Tumblehome
A return to a hull form not seen since the Russo-Japanese War
in 1905, the Zumwalt-class destroyer reintroduces the tumblehome
hull form. Originally put forth in modern steel battleship designs by the French shipyard Forges et Chantiers de la Mediterranee in La Seyne in Toulon
, French naval architects believed that tumblehome
, in which the beam of the vessel narrowed from the water-line to the upper deck, would create better freeboard, greater seaworthiness, and, as Russian battleships were to find, would be ideal for navigating through narrow constraints (canals). On the down side, the tumblehome
battleships experienced stability problems, especially in high speed turns or losses in watertight integrity. 21st century tumblehome
is being reintroduced to reduce the radar return of the hull. The bow is designed to cut through waves rather than ride over them. As mentioned above, the stability of this hull form in high sea states has caused debate among naval architects.
and Naval Ordnance Station Indian Head tested an 11 inch sub-calibre saboted long-range round in a stretched 16"/45 Mark 6 battleship gun in 1967. The Advanced Gun Weapon System Technology Program (AGWSTP) evaluated a similar projectile with longer range in the 1980s. After the battleships were decommissioned in 1992, the AGWSTP became a 5" gun with an intended range of 180 kilometres (111.8 mi), which then led to the Vertical Gun for Advanced Ships (VGAS). The original DD-21 was designed around this "vertical gun", but the project ran into serious technology/cost problems and was radically scaled back to a more conventional 6.1 inch Advanced Gun System
(AGS). One advantage of this move was that the gun was no longer restricted to guided munitions.
The Advanced Gun System is a 155 mm naval gun
, two of which would be installed in each ship. This system consists of an advanced 155 mm gun and the Long Range Land-Attack Projectile. This projectile is in fact a rocket with a warhead fired from the AGS gun; the warhead weighs 11 kg / 24 lb and has a circular error of probability
of 50 meters. This weapon system will have a range of 83 nautical miles (153.7 km) and the fully automated storage system will have room for up to 750 rounds. The barrel is water-cooled to prevent overheating and allows a rate of fire of 10 rounds per minute per gun. The combined firepower from a pair of turrets gives each Zumwalt-class destroyer firepower equivalent to 18 conventional M198
field guns.
Active Electronically Scanned Array
primarily X-band radar (high altitude near airspace) was to be married with Lockheed Martin's SPY-4 S-band volume search radar. Raytheon’s X-band, active-array SPY-3 Multi-Function Radar (MFR) offers superior medium to high altitude performance over other radar bands, and its pencil beams give it an excellent ability to focus in on targets. SPY-3 will be the primary DBR radar used for missile engagements. On 2 June 2010 Pentagon acquisition chief Ashton Carter announced that they will be removing the SPY-4 S-band Volume Search Radar from the DDG 1000's dual-band radar. It seems that the new radar will be The Air Missile Defense Radar (AMDR
), a system currently in the early stages of development The AMDR will provide multi-mission capabilities, supporting both long range, exoatmospheric detection, tracking and discrimination of ballistic missiles, as well as Area and Self Defense against air and surface threats. For the Ballistic Missile Detection capability, increased radar sensitivity and bandwidth over the current SPY system is needed to detect, track and support the SPY-3's engagements of advanced ballistic missile threats at the required ranges. For the Area Air Defense and Self Defense capability, increased sensitivity and clutter rejection capability is needed to detect, react to, and engage stressing Very Low Observable / Very Low Flyer (VLO/VLF) threats in the presence of heavy land, sea, and rain clutter. Each band will have its own signal processors, with the returns combined by the display sensor manager. This system is thought to provide high detection and excellent anti-jamming capabilities. But at least one report by Congress' investigative arm, the GAO
, raises concerns that it is too much of a technology leap.
. This proposal was dropped when the PMM motor failed to demonstrate that it was ready to be installed in time.
Zumwalt will have Converteam's
Advanced Induction Motors (AIM), rather than DRS Technologies' Permanent Magnet-Synchronous Motors (PMM).
.
Ammunition, food, and other stores, are all mounted in containers able to be struck below to magazine/storage areas by an automated cargo handling system.
Water spray or mist systems are proposed for deployment in the Zumwalt-class destroyer but the electronic spaces remains problematic to the designers. Halon/Nitrogen dump systems are preferred but do not work when the space has been compromised by a hull breach. The GAO
has noted this system as a potential problem yet to be addressed.
s running LynuxWorks
' LynxOS
RTOS
.
estimated the life-cycle cost of a DD(X) at $3.8–4.0bn in 2007 dollars, $1.1bn more than the Navy's estimate.
Specific issues have been raised about the design:
" – a dedicated air defense cruiser.
On 31 July 2008 Vice Adm. Barry McCullough (deputy chief of naval operations for integration of resources and capabilities) and Allison Stiller (deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for ship programs) stated that "the DDG 1000 cannot perform area air defense; specifically, it cannot successfully employ the Standard Missile-2 (SM-2
), SM-3
or SM-6 and is incapable of conducting Ballistic Missile Defense." Dan Smith, president of Raytheon’s Integrated Defense Systems division, has countered that the radar and combat system are essentially the same as other SM-2-capable ships, "I can’t answer the question as to why the Navy is now asserting...that Zumwalt is not equipped with an SM-2 capability". The lack of anti-ballistic missile capability may represent a lack of compatibility with SM-3. In view of recent intelligence that China is developing targetable anti-ship ballistic missiles based on the DF-21
, this could be a fatal flaw.
On 22 February 2009 James "Ace" Lyons
, the former commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, stated that the DDG-1000's technology was essential to a future "boost phase anti-ballistic missile intercept capability".
In 2010 the Congressional Research Service reported that the DDG-1000 cannot be used for BMD because it does not use the standard Aegis system that has been developed for BMD.
The narrowly defined study that showed a cost benefit to building Flight III Arleigh Burke class destroyer with enhanced radars instead of adding BMD to the Zumwalt class destroyers assumed very limited changes from the Flight II to the Flight III Burkes. However costs for the Flight III Burkes have increased rapidly "as the possible requirements and expectations continue to grow."
than either the Ticonderoga or Arleigh Burke class ships.
had more serious NFS capabilities, which would meet a Congress-mandated requirement related to the Iowa-class
battleship
s. The requirement was eventually relaxed, the battleships stricken from the registry, and the Navy left with small tonnage ships for NFS or alternative methods such as air support. The official position of the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Navy is that the Zumwalt-class destroyer(s) will be adequate as naval surface gunfire support ships, although there are dissenters.
While smaller caliber guns (and missiles) have been used for centuries in naval fire support, very large guns have special capabilities beyond that of mid-range calibers. US battleships were re-activated three times after WWII specifically for NFS, and their 16 inch gunfire was used in every major engagement of the U. S. from WWII through Operation Desert Storm in January/February 1991. The Zumwalt-class will have two 6.1 inch (155 mm) guns with limited ammunition. The ships will fire a specially designed "guided" artillery shell some 63 nautical miles (116.7 km) inland. However, this shell has a reduced warhead size and uses new technology, so most of the shells carried on the DDG would have vastly shorter range.
In March 2006, the and were struck from the Naval Vessel Register
, having been kept on in part to fill a naval fire support role. However, Congress was "deeply concerned" over the loss of naval surface gunfire support they could provide and noted that "navy efforts to improve upon, much less replace, this capability have been highly problematic." The U.S. House of Representatives asked that the battleships be kept in a state of readiness should they ever be needed again and directed the Navy to increase the number of Arleigh Burke-class
destroyer
s that are currently being modernized. The modernization includes extending the range of the 5-inch guns on the Flight 1 ships with extended range guided munitions (ERGMs)
that would enable the ships to fire projectiles about forty nautical miles inland; However the ERGM was canceled after it failed firing tests in February 2008. The Navy is studying future options for naval fire support; Alliant Techsystems’ ballistic trajectory extended range munition may be one possibility.
The stability of the DDG-1000 hull design in heavy seas has been a matter of controversy. In April 2007, naval architect Ken Brower said, "As a ship pitches and heaves at sea, if you have tumblehome
instead of flare, you have no righting energy to make the ship come back up. On the DDG 1000, with the waves coming at you from behind, when a ship pitches down, it can lose transverse stability as the stern comes out of the water – and basically roll over." The decision to not use a tumblehome hull in the CG(X)
cruiser, before the program was canceled, may suggest that there were concerns regarding the Zumwalts seakeeping. However, in a 1/4 scale test of the hull design, named 'Sea Jet', the tumblehome hull proved seaworthy.
The Advanced Electric Ship Demonstrator (AESD), 'Sea Jet'
, funded by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), is a 133-foot vessel located at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division
, Acoustic Research Detachment in Bayview, Idaho. Sea Jet was operated on Lake Pend Oreille, where it was used for test and demonstration of various technologies. Among the first technologies tested was an underwater discharge water jet from Rolls-Royce
Naval Marine, Inc., called AWJ-21, a propulsion concept with the goals of providing increased propulsive efficiency, reduced acoustic signature, and improved maneuverability over previous Destroyer Class combatants.
. The episode first aired on 8 April 2008. In the episode, a character claims that a Zumwalt class destroyer has scheduled sea trials in a week's time, even though delivery of the first Zumwalt was not scheduled before 2013. At the time of the episode, the initial work on the hull had only just begun.
Government reports regarding the DD(X) Destroyer program
Video link
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
s, designed as multi-mission ships with a focus on land attack. The class is a scaled-back project that emerged after funding cuts to the larger DD-21 vessel program. The program was previously known as the "DD(X)". The Zumwalt-class destroyers are multi-role and designed for surface warfare, anti-aircraft, and naval fire support. They take the place of the battleships in filling the former congressional mandate for naval fire support, though the requirement was reduced to allow them to fill this role. The vessel's appearance has been compared to that of the historic ironclad.
The DDG-1000 is planned to feature a low radar profile; an integrated power system, which can send electricity to the electric drive motors or weapons, which may someday include a railgun
Railgun
A railgun is an entirely electrical gun that accelerates a conductive projectile along a pair of metal rails using the same principles as the homopolar motor. Railguns use two sliding or rolling contacts that permit a large electric current to pass through the projectile. This current interacts...
or free-electron lasers
Free electron laser
A free-electron laser, or FEL, is a laser that shares the same optical properties as conventional lasers such as emitting a beam consisting of coherent electromagnetic radiation which can reach high power, but which uses some very different operating principles to form the beam...
; total ship computing environment infrastructure, serving as the ship's primary LAN and as the hardware-independent platform for all of the ship's software ensembles; automated fire-fighting systems and automated piping rupture isolation. The destroyer is being designed to require a smaller crew and be less expensive to operate than comparable warships. It will have a wave-piercing
Wave-piercing
A wave-piercing boat hull has a very fine bow, with reduced buoyancy in the forward portions.When a wave is encountered, the lack of buoyancy means the hull pierces through the water rather than riding over the top - resulting in a smoother ride than traditional designs, and in diminished stress on...
tumblehome
Tumblehome
In ship designing, the tumblehome is the narrowing of a ship's hull with greater distance above the water-line. Expressed more technically, it is present when the beam at the uppermost deck is less than the maximum beam of the vessel....
hull form whose sides slope inward above the waterline. This will reduce the radar cross-section, returning much less energy than a more hard-angled hull form. As of January 2009, the GAO
Government Accountability Office
The Government Accountability Office is the audit, evaluation, and investigative arm of the United States Congress. It is located in the legislative branch of the United States government.-History:...
found that only four out of 12 of the DDG-1000's critical technologies were mature.
The lead ship
Lead ship
The lead ship or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable military ships and larger civilian craft.-Overview:...
will be named Zumwalt
USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000)
USS Zumwalt 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.-Name and hull number:...
for Admiral Elmo Zumwalt
Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr.
Elmo Russell Zumwalt, Jr. was an American naval officer and the youngest man to serve as Chief of Naval Operations. As an admiral and later the 19th Chief of Naval Operations, Zumwalt played a major role in U.S. military history, especially during the Vietnam War. A highly-decorated war veteran,...
, and carries the hull number DDG-1000. Originally 32 ships were planned for the class, but this was progressively cut down to two, with three to be built currently. The Navy expects each ship to cost nearly $3.3 billion. The DOD's proposed 2010 budget called for three DDG-1000 ships to be produced.
Funding
Many of the ship's features were developed under the DD21 program ("21st Century Destroyer"), which was originally designed around the Vertical Gun for Advanced Ships (VGAS, see below). In 2001, Congress cut the DD-21 program by half as part of the SC21SC21 (United States)
SC-21 was a program started in 1994 to design land attack ships for the United States Navy. A wide variety of designs were examined, including an arsenal ship with 500 cruise missiles, but eventually a "tumblehome" design of around 16,000 tons with two long-range guns and 128 missile tubes...
program; to save it, the acquisition program was renamed as DD(X) and heavily reworked.
Originally, the Navy had hoped to build 32 of these destroyers. That number was later reduced to 24, then to 7, due to the high cost of new and experimental technologies to be incorporated in the destroyer. On 23 November 2005, the Defense Acquisition Board approved a plan for simultaneous construction of the first two DDG-1000 ships at Northrop’s Ingalls yard
Ingalls Shipbuilding
Ingalls Shipbuilding is a shipyard located in Pascagoula, Mississippi, USA, originally established in 1938, and is now part of Huntington Ingalls Industries...
in Pascagoula, MS and General Dynamics’ Bath Iron Works
Bath Iron Works
Bath Iron Works is a major American shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, United States. Since its founding in 1884 , BIW has built private, commercial and military vessels, most of which have been ordered by the United States Navy...
in Bath, ME. However, as of that date, funding had yet to be authorized by Congress.
In late December 2005, the House and Senate agreed to continue funding the DDG-1000 program. The U.S. House of Representatives allotted the Navy only enough money to begin construction on one DDG-1000 destroyer as a "technology demonstrator." The initial funding allocation for the DDG-1000 destroyer was included in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2007. However, this was increased to two ships by the 2007 appropriations bill approved in September 2006, which allotted US$2,568m to the DDG-1000 program.
On 31 July 2008, U.S. Navy acquisition officials told Congress that the service needed to purchase more Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, and no longer needs the next-generation DDG-1000 class, Only the two approved destroyers would be built. The Navy said the world threat picture had changed in such a way that it now makes more sense to build at least eight more Burkes, rather than DDG-1000s. The Navy concluded from fifteen classified intelligence reports that the DDG-1000s would be vulnerable to forms of missile attacks. Many Congressional subcommittee members appeared incredulous that the Navy could have conducted such a sweeping re-evaluation of the world threat picture in just a few weeks, after spending some 13 years and $10 billion on the surface ship program known as DD-21, then DD(X) and finally, DDG-1000. That figure does not include the money spent for the two hulls (DDG-1000 and DDG-1001). Subsequently chief of naval operations Gary Roughead has cited the need to provide area air defense and specific new threats such as ballistic missiles and the possession of anti-ship missiles by groups such as Hezbollah. The mooted structural problems have not been discussed in public. Navy Secretary Donald Winter said on 4 September that "Making certain that we have — I’ll just say, a destroyer — in the ’09 budget is more important than whether that’s a DDG 1000 or a DDG 51".
On 19 August, Secretary Winter was reported as saying that a third Zumwalt would be built at Bath Iron Works, citing concerns about maintaining shipbuilding capacity. House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Murtha
John Murtha
John Patrick "Jack" Murtha, Jr. was an American politician from the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Murtha, a Democrat, represented Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1974 until his death in 2010....
said on 23 September 2008 that he had agreed to partial funding of the third DDG-1000 in the 2009 Defense authorization bill.
A 26 January 2009 memo from John Young, the US DoD's top acquisition official, stated that the per ship price for the Zumwalt destroyers had reached $5.964 billion, 81 percent over the Navy's original estimate used in proposing the program. If true, that means that the program has breached the Nunn–McCurdy Amendment
Nunn–McCurdy Amendment
The Nunn–McCurdy Amendment or Nunn–McCurdy Provision, introduced by Senator Sam Nunn and Congressman Dave McCurdy in the United States 1982 Defense Authorization Act and made permanent in 1983, is designed to curtail cost growth in American weapons procurement programs.It requires cost growth of...
, requiring the Navy to recertify and rejustify the program to Congress.
On 6 April 2009, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced that DoD's proposed 2010 budget will end the DDG-1000 program at a maximum of three ships. Also in April, the Pentagon awarded a fixed-price contract with General Dynamics to build the three destroyers, replacing a cost-plus-fee contract that had been awarded to Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American global aerospace and defense technology company formed by the 1994 purchase of Grumman by Northrop. The company was the fourth-largest defense contractor in the world as of 2010, and the largest builder of naval vessels. Northrop Grumman employs over...
. The first DDG-1000 destroyer is expected to cost $3.5 billion, the second is to cost approximately $2.5 billion, and the third even less.
Construction
In late 2005, the program entered the detailed design and integration phase, for which RaytheonRaytheon
Raytheon Company is a major American defense contractor and industrial corporation with core manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. It was previously involved in corporate and special-mission aircraft until early 2007...
is the Mission Systems Integrator. Both Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American global aerospace and defense technology company formed by the 1994 purchase of Grumman by Northrop. The company was the fourth-largest defense contractor in the world as of 2010, and the largest builder of naval vessels. Northrop Grumman employs over...
Ship Systems and General Dynamics Bath Iron Works share dual-lead for the hull, mechanical, and electrical detailed design. BAE Systems Inc.
BAE Systems Inc.
BAE Systems Inc. is a major subsidiary of the British defense and aerospace company BAE Systems plc. As per its Special Security Agreement, BAE Systems Inc...
has the advanced gun system and the MK57 VLS
Vertical Launching System
A vertical launching system is a system for holding and firing missiles on surface ships and submarines used by many navies around the world. Each VLS system consists of a number of cells, which can hold one or more missiles ready for firing...
. Almost every major defense contractor (including Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....
, Northrop Grumman Sperry Marine, L-3 Communications) and subcontractors from nearly every state in the U.S. are involved to some extent in this project, which is the largest single line item in the Navy's budget. During the previous contract, development and testing of 11 Engineering Development Models (EDMs) took place: Advanced Gun System
Advanced Gun System
The Advanced Gun System is a naval gun system under development by BAE Systems Armaments Systems for the Zumwalt class destroyer of the United States Navy. Production has started; the first magazine was delivered to the U.S...
, Autonomic Fire Suppression System, Dual Band Radar [X-band and L-band], Infrared, Integrated Deckhouse & Apertures, Integrated Power System, Integrated Undersea Warfare, Peripheral Vertical Launch System, Total Ship Computing Environment, Tumblehome
Tumblehome
In ship designing, the tumblehome is the narrowing of a ship's hull with greater distance above the water-line. Expressed more technically, it is present when the beam at the uppermost deck is less than the maximum beam of the vessel....
Hull Form.
The decision in September 2006 to fund two ships meant that one could be built by the Bath Iron Works
Bath Iron Works
Bath Iron Works is a major American shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, United States. Since its founding in 1884 , BIW has built private, commercial and military vessels, most of which have been ordered by the United States Navy...
in Maine and one by Northrop Grumman's Ingalls Shipbuilding
Ingalls Shipbuilding
Ingalls Shipbuilding is a shipyard located in Pascagoula, Mississippi, USA, originally established in 1938, and is now part of Huntington Ingalls Industries...
in Mississippi.
Northrop Grumman was awarded a $90m contract modification for materials and production planning on 13 November 2007. On 14 February 2008, Bath Iron Works was awarded a contract for the construction of the USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000), and Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding was awarded a contract for the construction of USS Michael Moonsoor (DDG 1001), at a cost of $1.4 billion each.
On 11 February 2009, full-rate production officially began on the first Zumwalt destroyer. Construction on the second ship of the class, Michael Moonsoor, began in March 2010. The keel for the first Zumwalt destroyer was laid on 17 November 2011.
The construction timetable in July 2008 was:
- October 2008: DDG-1000 starts construction at Bath Iron Works
- September 2009: DDG-1001 starts construction at Ingalls
- April 2013: DDG-1000 initial delivery
- May 2014: DDG-1001 delivery
- March 2015: Initial operating capability
Names and hull numbers
In April 2006, the Navy announced plans to name the first ship of the class Zumwalt after former Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Elmo R. "Bud" Zumwalt Jr. Its hull number will be DDG-1000, abandoning the guided missile destroyer sequence used by the Arleigh Burke-class destroyersArleigh Burke class destroyer
The Arleigh Burke class of guided missile destroyers is the United States Navy's first class of destroyer built around the Aegis combat system and the SPY-1D multi-function phased array radar. The class is named for Admiral Arleigh "31-Knot" Burke, the most famous American destroyer officer of...
, and continue in the previous "gun destroyer" sequence left off with the last of the Spruance-class
Spruance class destroyer
The Spruance-class destroyer was developed by the United States to replace a large number of World War II-built Allen M. Sumner- and Gearing-class destroyers, and was the primary destroyer built for the U.S. Navy during the 1970s....
, .
DDG-1001 will be named for Master-at-Arms 2nd Class (SEAL) Michael Monsoor, the second SEAL to receive the Medal of Honor
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...
in the Global War on Terror (GWOT), the Navy announced on 29 October 2008.
There is an active civilian
Civilian
A civilian under international humanitarian law is a person who is not a member of his or her country's armed forces or other militia. Civilians are distinct from combatants. They are afforded a degree of legal protection from the effects of war and military occupation...
campaign to persuade the Secretary of the Navy to name one of the class the USS Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...
.
Stealth
Despite being 40% larger than an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer the radar signature is more akin to a fishing boat and sound levels are compared to the Los Angeles-classLos Angeles class submarine
The Los Angeles class, sometimes called the LA class or the 688 class, is a class of nuclear-powered fast attack submarines that forms the backbone of the United States submarine fleet. With 43 submarines on active duty and 19 retired, the Los Angeles class is the most numerous nuclear powered...
submarine. The tumblehome
Tumblehome
In ship designing, the tumblehome is the narrowing of a ship's hull with greater distance above the water-line. Expressed more technically, it is present when the beam at the uppermost deck is less than the maximum beam of the vessel....
hull reduces radar return and the composite material deckhouse also has a low radar return. Water sleeting along the sides, along with passive cool air induction in the mack
Mack (ship)
In naval architecture, a Mack is a structure which combines the radar MAsts and the exhaust stACK of a surface ship, thereby saving the upper deck space used for separate funnels and the increasingly large lattice masts used to carry heavy radar aerials. The word itself is a composite of "mast" and...
reduces thermal emissions.
TumblehomeTumblehomeIn ship designing, the tumblehome is the narrowing of a ship's hull with greater distance above the water-line. Expressed more technically, it is present when the beam at the uppermost deck is less than the maximum beam of the vessel....
wave piercing hull
A return to a hull form not seen since the Russo-Japanese WarRusso-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...
in 1905, the Zumwalt-class destroyer reintroduces the tumblehome
Tumblehome
In ship designing, the tumblehome is the narrowing of a ship's hull with greater distance above the water-line. Expressed more technically, it is present when the beam at the uppermost deck is less than the maximum beam of the vessel....
hull form. Originally put forth in modern steel battleship designs by the French shipyard Forges et Chantiers de la Mediterranee in La Seyne in Toulon
Toulon
Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....
, French naval architects believed that tumblehome
Tumblehome
In ship designing, the tumblehome is the narrowing of a ship's hull with greater distance above the water-line. Expressed more technically, it is present when the beam at the uppermost deck is less than the maximum beam of the vessel....
, in which the beam of the vessel narrowed from the water-line to the upper deck, would create better freeboard, greater seaworthiness, and, as Russian battleships were to find, would be ideal for navigating through narrow constraints (canals). On the down side, the tumblehome
Tumblehome
In ship designing, the tumblehome is the narrowing of a ship's hull with greater distance above the water-line. Expressed more technically, it is present when the beam at the uppermost deck is less than the maximum beam of the vessel....
battleships experienced stability problems, especially in high speed turns or losses in watertight integrity. 21st century tumblehome
Tumblehome
In ship designing, the tumblehome is the narrowing of a ship's hull with greater distance above the water-line. Expressed more technically, it is present when the beam at the uppermost deck is less than the maximum beam of the vessel....
is being reintroduced to reduce the radar return of the hull. The bow is designed to cut through waves rather than ride over them. As mentioned above, the stability of this hull form in high sea states has caused debate among naval architects.
Advanced Gun System (AGS)
There has been research on extending the range of naval gunfire for many years. Canadian engineer Gerald BullGerald Bull
Gerald Vincent Bull was a Canadian engineer who developed long-range artillery. He moved from project to project in his quest to launch economically a satellite using a huge artillery piece, to which end he designed the Project Babylon "supergun" for the Iraqi government...
and Naval Ordnance Station Indian Head tested an 11 inch sub-calibre saboted long-range round in a stretched 16"/45 Mark 6 battleship gun in 1967. The Advanced Gun Weapon System Technology Program (AGWSTP) evaluated a similar projectile with longer range in the 1980s. After the battleships were decommissioned in 1992, the AGWSTP became a 5" gun with an intended range of 180 kilometres (111.8 mi), which then led to the Vertical Gun for Advanced Ships (VGAS). The original DD-21 was designed around this "vertical gun", but the project ran into serious technology/cost problems and was radically scaled back to a more conventional 6.1 inch Advanced Gun System
Advanced Gun System
The Advanced Gun System is a naval gun system under development by BAE Systems Armaments Systems for the Zumwalt class destroyer of the United States Navy. Production has started; the first magazine was delivered to the U.S...
(AGS). One advantage of this move was that the gun was no longer restricted to guided munitions.
The Advanced Gun System is a 155 mm naval gun
Naval artillery
Naval artillery, or naval riflery, is artillery mounted on a warship for use in naval warfare. Naval artillery has historically been used to engage either other ships, or targets on land; in the latter role it is currently termed naval gunfire fire support...
, two of which would be installed in each ship. This system consists of an advanced 155 mm gun and the Long Range Land-Attack Projectile. This projectile is in fact a rocket with a warhead fired from the AGS gun; the warhead weighs 11 kg / 24 lb and has a circular error of probability
Circular error probable
In the military science of ballistics, circular error probable is an intuitive measure of a weapon system's precision...
of 50 meters. This weapon system will have a range of 83 nautical miles (153.7 km) and the fully automated storage system will have room for up to 750 rounds. The barrel is water-cooled to prevent overheating and allows a rate of fire of 10 rounds per minute per gun. The combined firepower from a pair of turrets gives each Zumwalt-class destroyer firepower equivalent to 18 conventional M198
M198 howitzer
The M198 howitzer is a medium-sized, towed artillery piece, developed for service with the United States Army and Marine Corps. It was commissioned to be a lightweight replacement for the WWII era M114 155mm howitzer. It was designed and prototyped at the Rock Island Arsenal in 1969 with firing...
field guns.
Peripheral Vertical Launch System (PVLS)
The Peripheral Vertical Launch System is an attempt to reclaim the prized center space of the hull while increasing the safety of the ship from the loss of the entire missile battery and the loss of the ship in the case of a magazine explosion. The system scatters pods of VLS around the outer shell of the ship having a thin steel outer shell and a thick inner shell. The design of the PVLS would direct the force of the explosion outward rather than ripping the ship in half. Additionally this design keeps the loss of missile capacity down to just the pod being hit.Boat and helicopter arrangements
Two spots will be available on a large aviation deck while boat handling is to be dealt within a stern mounted boat hangar with ramp. The boat hangar’s stern location meets high sea state requirements for boat operations.Dual-band radar
Originally, the AN/SPY-3AN/SPY-3
The AN/SPY-3 is a radar designed for both blue-water and littoral operations. It can combine the functions of up to five radars and ten antennas:-Ancestry:...
Active Electronically Scanned Array
Active Electronically Scanned Array
An Active Electronically Scanned Array , also known as active phased array radar is a type of phased array radar whose transmitter and receiver functions are composed of numerous small solid-state transmit/receive modules . AESAs aim their "beam" by broadcasting radio energy that interfere...
primarily X-band radar (high altitude near airspace) was to be married with Lockheed Martin's SPY-4 S-band volume search radar. Raytheon’s X-band, active-array SPY-3 Multi-Function Radar (MFR) offers superior medium to high altitude performance over other radar bands, and its pencil beams give it an excellent ability to focus in on targets. SPY-3 will be the primary DBR radar used for missile engagements. On 2 June 2010 Pentagon acquisition chief Ashton Carter announced that they will be removing the SPY-4 S-band Volume Search Radar from the DDG 1000's dual-band radar. It seems that the new radar will be The Air Missile Defense Radar (AMDR
AMDR
The AMDR, short for "Air and Missile Defense Radar", is an air and missile defense radar planned by the United States navy. It is being developed to provide integrated air and missile defense, and even periscope detection, for next-generation cruisers and destroyers.-Development:In September 2010,...
), a system currently in the early stages of development The AMDR will provide multi-mission capabilities, supporting both long range, exoatmospheric detection, tracking and discrimination of ballistic missiles, as well as Area and Self Defense against air and surface threats. For the Ballistic Missile Detection capability, increased radar sensitivity and bandwidth over the current SPY system is needed to detect, track and support the SPY-3's engagements of advanced ballistic missile threats at the required ranges. For the Area Air Defense and Self Defense capability, increased sensitivity and clutter rejection capability is needed to detect, react to, and engage stressing Very Low Observable / Very Low Flyer (VLO/VLF) threats in the presence of heavy land, sea, and rain clutter. Each band will have its own signal processors, with the returns combined by the display sensor manager. This system is thought to provide high detection and excellent anti-jamming capabilities. But at least one report by Congress' investigative arm, the GAO
Gao
Gao is a town in eastern Mali on the River Niger lying ESE of Timbuktu. Situated on the left bank of the river at the junction with the Tilemsi valley, it is the capital of the Gao Region and had a population of 86,663 in 2009....
, raises concerns that it is too much of a technology leap.
Sonar
A dual-band sonar controlled by a highly automated computer system will be used to detect mines and submarines. It is claimed that it is superior to the Burke's sonar in littoral ASW, but less effective in blue water/deep sea areas.- Hull-mounted mid-frequency sonar (AN/SQS-60)
- Hull-mounted high-frequency sonar (AN/SQS-61)
- Multi-function towed array sonar and handling system (AN/SQR-20)
Propulsion
The DDX proposed to use a Permanent Magnet Motor (PMM) within the hull. An alternate twin pod arrangement was rejected as the ramifications of pod drives would require too much development and validation cost to the vessel. The PMM is considered to be another technology leap and is the cause of some concern along with the radar system from Congress. As part of the design phase, Northrop Grumman had built the world's largest permanent magnet motor, designed and fabricated by DRS TechnologiesDRS Technologies
DRS Technologies, Inc. is a US-based defense contractor. Previously traded on the NYSE, the company was purchased by the Italian firm Finmeccanica in October 2008.-History:...
. This proposal was dropped when the PMM motor failed to demonstrate that it was ready to be installed in time.
Zumwalt will have Converteam's
Converteam
Converteam was an electrical engineering company based in France, and a former division of Alstom. It is now part of General Electric-History:...
Advanced Induction Motors (AIM), rather than DRS Technologies' Permanent Magnet-Synchronous Motors (PMM).
"...The exact choice of engine systems remains somewhat controversial at this point. The concept was originally for an integrated power system (IPS) based on in-hull permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMMs), with Advanced Induction Motors (AIM) as a possible backup solution. The design was shifted to the AIM system in February 2005 in order to meet scheduled milestones; PMM technical issues were subsequently fixed, but the program has moved on. The downside is that AIM technology has a heavier motor, requires more space, requires a "separate controller" to be developed to meet noise requirements, and produces one-third the amount of voltage. On the other hand, these very differences will force time and cost penalties from design and construction changes if the program wishes to "design AIM out"..."
Integrated Power System (IPS)
The Integrated Power System (IPS) is a step both forward and backwards. In some ways similar to the old turbo-electric drive, the addition of PMMs and integration of all electrical power systems gives ten times the power available on current destroyers. It also reduces the ship's thermal and sound signature. The IPS has added to weight growth in the Zumwalt-class destroyer as noted by the GAOGao
Gao is a town in eastern Mali on the River Niger lying ESE of Timbuktu. Situated on the left bank of the river at the junction with the Tilemsi valley, it is the capital of the Gao Region and had a population of 86,663 in 2009....
.
Automation
Automation will reduce crew size on these ships. A smaller crew will reduce a major component of operating costs.Ammunition, food, and other stores, are all mounted in containers able to be struck below to magazine/storage areas by an automated cargo handling system.
Water spray or mist systems are proposed for deployment in the Zumwalt-class destroyer but the electronic spaces remains problematic to the designers. Halon/Nitrogen dump systems are preferred but do not work when the space has been compromised by a hull breach. The GAO
Gao
Gao is a town in eastern Mali on the River Niger lying ESE of Timbuktu. Situated on the left bank of the river at the junction with the Tilemsi valley, it is the capital of the Gao Region and had a population of 86,663 in 2009....
has noted this system as a potential problem yet to be addressed.
Computer network
The Total Ship Computing Environment Infrastructure (TSCEI) is based on GE Fanuc Embedded Systems' PPC7A and PPC7D single-board computerSingle-board computer
A single-board computer is a complete computer built on a single circuit board, with microprocessor, memory, input/output and other features required of a functional computer. Unlike a typical personal computer, an SBC may not include slots into which accessory cards may be plugged...
s running LynuxWorks
LynuxWorks
LynuxWorks, Inc. is a San Jose, California software company founded in 1988. LynuxWorks produces embedded operating systems and tools for using full virtualization and paravirtualization in embedded systems...
' LynxOS
LynxOS
The LynxOS RTOS is a Unix-like real-time operating system from LynuxWorks . Sometimes known as the Lynx Operating System, LynxOS features full POSIX conformance and, more recently, Linux compatibility...
RTOS
Real-time operating system
A real-time operating system is an operating system intended to serve real-time application requests.A key characteristic of a RTOS is the level of its consistency concerning the amount of time it takes to accept and complete an application's task; the variability is jitter...
.
Controversy
Lawmakers and others have questioned whether the Zumwalt class costs too much and whether it provides the capabilities the U.S. military needs. In 2005 the Congressional Budget OfficeCongressional Budget Office
The Congressional Budget Office is a federal agency within the legislative branch of the United States government that provides economic data to Congress....
estimated the life-cycle cost of a DD(X) at $3.8–4.0bn in 2007 dollars, $1.1bn more than the Navy's estimate.
Specific issues have been raised about the design:
Ballistic missile/air defense capability
In January 2005, John Young, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition, was so confident of the DD(X)'s improved air defense over the Burke class that between its new radar and ability to fire SM-1, SM-2, and SM-6, "I don't see as much urgency for [moving to] CG(X)CG(X)
The CG program, also known as the Next Generation Cruiser program, was a US Navy program to replace its 22 Ticonderoga class cruisers after 2017. Original plans were for 18-19 ships, based on the 14,500 ton Zumwalt class destroyer but providing ballistic missile defense and area air defense...
" – a dedicated air defense cruiser.
On 31 July 2008 Vice Adm. Barry McCullough (deputy chief of naval operations for integration of resources and capabilities) and Allison Stiller (deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for ship programs) stated that "the DDG 1000 cannot perform area air defense; specifically, it cannot successfully employ the Standard Missile-2 (SM-2
RIM-66 Standard
The RIM-66 Standard MR is a medium range surface-to-air missile originally developed for the United States Navy . The SM-1 was developed as a replacement for the RIM-2 Terrier and RIM-24 Tartar that were deployed in the 1950s on a variety of USN ships...
), SM-3
RIM-161 Standard Missile 3
The RIM-161 Standard Missile 3 is a ship-based missile system used by the US Navy to intercept short-to intermediate-range ballistic missiles as a part of Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System. Although primarily designed as an anti-ballistic missile, the SM-3 has also been employed in an...
or SM-6 and is incapable of conducting Ballistic Missile Defense." Dan Smith, president of Raytheon’s Integrated Defense Systems division, has countered that the radar and combat system are essentially the same as other SM-2-capable ships, "I can’t answer the question as to why the Navy is now asserting...that Zumwalt is not equipped with an SM-2 capability". The lack of anti-ballistic missile capability may represent a lack of compatibility with SM-3. In view of recent intelligence that China is developing targetable anti-ship ballistic missiles based on the DF-21
DF-21
The Dong-Feng 21 is a two-stage, solid-propellant, single-warhead medium-range ballistic missile developed by China Changfeng Mechanics and Electronics Technology Academy. Development started in the late 1960s and was completed around 1985-86, but it was not deployed until 1991...
, this could be a fatal flaw.
On 22 February 2009 James "Ace" Lyons
James "Ace" Lyons
James "Ace" Lyons is a retired admiral in the United States Navy whose 36-year career was capped by serving as Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet from 16 September 1985 to 30 September 1987...
, the former commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, stated that the DDG-1000's technology was essential to a future "boost phase anti-ballistic missile intercept capability".
In 2010 the Congressional Research Service reported that the DDG-1000 cannot be used for BMD because it does not use the standard Aegis system that has been developed for BMD.
The narrowly defined study that showed a cost benefit to building Flight III Arleigh Burke class destroyer with enhanced radars instead of adding BMD to the Zumwalt class destroyers assumed very limited changes from the Flight II to the Flight III Burkes. However costs for the Flight III Burkes have increased rapidly "as the possible requirements and expectations continue to grow."
Missile capacity
The original DD21 design, displacing around 16,000 tons, would have accommodated between 117 and 128 VLS cells. However, the final DDG-1000 design was considerably smaller than that of the DD21, resulting in room for only 80 VLS cells. Given the vessel's expected role, the Zumwalt class destroyers will likely carry many more Tomahawk missilesBGM-109 Tomahawk
The Tomahawk is a long-range, all-weather, subsonic cruise missile. Introduced by General Dynamics in the 1970s, it was designed as a medium- to long-range, low-altitude missile that could be launched from a surface platform. It has been improved several times and, by way of corporate divestitures...
than either the Ticonderoga or Arleigh Burke class ships.
Naval fire support role
A controversial point of the DD(X) destroyer(s) is their planned naval surface fire support role. The original DD21 and the Arsenal ShipArsenal ship
An arsenal ship is a concept for a floating missile platform intended to have as many as five hundred vertical launch bays for mid-sized missiles, most likely cruise missiles...
had more serious NFS capabilities, which would meet a Congress-mandated requirement related to the Iowa-class
Iowa class battleship
The Iowa-class battleships were a class of fast battleships ordered by the United States Navy in 1939 and 1940 to escort the Fast Carrier Task Forces which would operate in the Pacific Theater of World War II. Six were ordered during the course of World War II, but only four were completed in...
battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
s. The requirement was eventually relaxed, the battleships stricken from the registry, and the Navy left with small tonnage ships for NFS or alternative methods such as air support. The official position of the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Navy is that the Zumwalt-class destroyer(s) will be adequate as naval surface gunfire support ships, although there are dissenters.
While smaller caliber guns (and missiles) have been used for centuries in naval fire support, very large guns have special capabilities beyond that of mid-range calibers. US battleships were re-activated three times after WWII specifically for NFS, and their 16 inch gunfire was used in every major engagement of the U. S. from WWII through Operation Desert Storm in January/February 1991. The Zumwalt-class will have two 6.1 inch (155 mm) guns with limited ammunition. The ships will fire a specially designed "guided" artillery shell some 63 nautical miles (116.7 km) inland. However, this shell has a reduced warhead size and uses new technology, so most of the shells carried on the DDG would have vastly shorter range.
In March 2006, the and were struck from the Naval Vessel Register
Naval Vessel Register
The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...
, having been kept on in part to fill a naval fire support role. However, Congress was "deeply concerned" over the loss of naval surface gunfire support they could provide and noted that "navy efforts to improve upon, much less replace, this capability have been highly problematic." The U.S. House of Representatives asked that the battleships be kept in a state of readiness should they ever be needed again and directed the Navy to increase the number of Arleigh Burke-class
Arleigh Burke class destroyer
The Arleigh Burke class of guided missile destroyers is the United States Navy's first class of destroyer built around the Aegis combat system and the SPY-1D multi-function phased array radar. The class is named for Admiral Arleigh "31-Knot" Burke, the most famous American destroyer officer of...
destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
s that are currently being modernized. The modernization includes extending the range of the 5-inch guns on the Flight 1 ships with extended range guided munitions (ERGMs)
Extended Range Guided Munition
The Extended Range Guided Munition was a precision guided rocket-assisted 5-inch artillery shell development by Raytheon for the U.S. Navy. The program was cancelled in March 2008 after twelve years of development and over 600 million dollars in funding. The developmental round was designated EX...
that would enable the ships to fire projectiles about forty nautical miles inland; However the ERGM was canceled after it failed firing tests in February 2008. The Navy is studying future options for naval fire support; Alliant Techsystems’ ballistic trajectory extended range munition may be one possibility.
Structural problems
The Zumwalt has an unusually large deckhouse as all the major sensors are buried in its structure. It has been claimed that Northrop Grumman has had problems sealing the composite construction panels of this area, but Northrop Grumman has denied this.Tumblehome design stability
Tumblehome
In ship designing, the tumblehome is the narrowing of a ship's hull with greater distance above the water-line. Expressed more technically, it is present when the beam at the uppermost deck is less than the maximum beam of the vessel....
instead of flare, you have no righting energy to make the ship come back up. On the DDG 1000, with the waves coming at you from behind, when a ship pitches down, it can lose transverse stability as the stern comes out of the water – and basically roll over." The decision to not use a tumblehome hull in the CG(X)
CG(X)
The CG program, also known as the Next Generation Cruiser program, was a US Navy program to replace its 22 Ticonderoga class cruisers after 2017. Original plans were for 18-19 ships, based on the 14,500 ton Zumwalt class destroyer but providing ballistic missile defense and area air defense...
cruiser, before the program was canceled, may suggest that there were concerns regarding the Zumwalts seakeeping. However, in a 1/4 scale test of the hull design, named 'Sea Jet', the tumblehome hull proved seaworthy.
The Advanced Electric Ship Demonstrator (AESD), 'Sea Jet'
Sea Jet
The Advanced Electric Ship Demonstrator , Sea Jet, funded by the Office of Naval Research , is a 133-foot vessel located at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division, Acoustic Research Detachment in Bayview, Idaho. Sea Jet was operated on Lake Pend Oreille, where it was used for test and...
, funded by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), is a 133-foot vessel located at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division
Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division
The Carderock Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, located in Potomac, Maryland, specializes in ship acoustics and stealth technology. Another area of focus is hydromechanics....
, Acoustic Research Detachment in Bayview, Idaho. Sea Jet was operated on Lake Pend Oreille, where it was used for test and demonstration of various technologies. Among the first technologies tested was an underwater discharge water jet from Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce plc
Rolls-Royce Group plc is a global power systems company headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s second-largest maker of aircraft engines , and also has major businesses in the marine propulsion and energy sectors. Through its defence-related activities...
Naval Marine, Inc., called AWJ-21, a propulsion concept with the goals of providing increased propulsive efficiency, reduced acoustic signature, and improved maneuverability over previous Destroyer Class combatants.
In popular culture
The theft of a fictional radar system intended for the Zumwalt class was a central part of the plot in the episode "Stakeout" of the U.S. television series NCISNCIS (TV series)
NCIS, formerly known as NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, is an American police procedural drama television series revolving around a fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which conducts criminal investigations involving the U.S...
. The episode first aired on 8 April 2008. In the episode, a character claims that a Zumwalt class destroyer has scheduled sea trials in a week's time, even though delivery of the first Zumwalt was not scheduled before 2013. At the time of the episode, the initial work on the hull had only just begun.
External links
General Information about DD(X) Class Destroyers- Raytheon's official DDG 1000 Program web page Excellent recent overview of Zumwalts versus Burkes
- Sea Jet Advanced Electric Ship Demonstrator (AESD)
- Description of the DD numbering system for ships in the U.S. Navy
- Video – Advanced Gun System (AGS) Employment in Asymmetric Warfare Simulation Scenario
- Video – Navy Advanced Gun System (AGS) Non-combatant Evacuation Simulation Scenario
- General DD(X) Destroyer page
- globalsecurity.org report on the DD(X) Destroyer program
- Overview of the DD(X) Destroyer program and its capabilities
- Concept of employment for naval surface fire support (near term capability)
- Information on the Advanced Gun System set to be installed on the DD(X) destroyers
Government reports regarding the DD(X) Destroyer program
- DoD press release: Navy Designates Next-Generation Zumwalt Destroyer
- House letter recommending against a "winner take all" construction strategy for the DD(X) destroyer program
- 1995 US General Accounting Office report on the US Navy’s Naval Surface Fire Support program
- 2004 US Government Accountability Office Report: Challenges Facing the DD(X) Destroyer Program
- 2005 US Government Accountability Office Report: Issues Related to Navy Battleships
- 2005 CRS Report for Congress: Navy DD(X) and CG(X) Programs: Background and Issues for Congress
Video link