Largest destroyer built for Navy headed to sea for testing

Zumwalt is the largest destroyer ever built for the U.S. Navy, while also being the first all-electric warship.

The 600-foot-long, 15,000-ton destroyer took four years to build at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine and cost $4.3 billion, according to the Portland Press Herald .

The Navy had planned to spend up to $9 billion in research and development on the DDG-1000 program and up to $20 billion to design and deliver seven ships.

Production on the stealth destroyer began at Bath Iron Works, a subsidiary of General Dynamics in 2009.

Sharp angles deflect enemy radar signals while antennas are hidden in a composite deckhouse.

Operational concerns and spiralling growing costs led the US Navy to scale back a proposed 32-ship programme to just three ships, meaning the USS Zumwalt will only be joined by two new destroyers in the coming years.

The builder sea trials will answer any questions of seaworthiness for a ship that utilises a type of hull associated with pre-dreadnought battleships from a century ago.

“If you don’t do that through integrated electric drives, you have to do that with other power structure – batteries and capacitors and such”, said O’Rourke, who was speaking at a U.S. Navy Institute conference in Washington on future U.S. seapower challenges.

It is meant to be capable of operating in shallow coastal waters, laying down fire to support forces on shore, as well as conducting anti-aircraft and naval surface warfare.