Navy’s futuristic destroyer makes port call in Rhode Island

The US Navy’s first Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyer, USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000), has successfully completed an engineering light off assessment and crew certification period at General Dynamics-Bath Iron Works.

It’s headed from Naval Station Newport to Baltimore, where it will be commissioned in October before going to its homeport in San Diego.

The U.S. Navy has given its first look inside the stealthy and futuristic Zumwalt destroyer during the ship’s first port stop at a Rhode Island naval station. It boasts a powerful new gun system that can unload 600 rocket-powered projectiles on targets more than 70 miles away.

The largest and most expensive destroyer ever built for the U.S. Navy is headed into the remnants of a tropical storm as it leaves ME for good.

Zumwalt is named for former Chief of Operations Elmo R. Zumwalt and is the first in a three-ship class of the Navy’s newest, most technologically advanced multi-mission guided-missile destroyers.

The Zumwalt, Daly said, has the smallest crew size since the Farragut-class built in the 1930s, which featured a similar complement of sailors. A veteran of World War II and the conflicts in Korea and Vietnam, Adm. Zumwalt served 32 years of dedicated naval service, earning a Bronze Star with Valor for his actions during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

“As the DDG 1000 sails into open water, Zumwalt is once again on active service in the U.S. Navy”, Capt. James A. Kirk, Zumwalt’s commanding officer, said in the release. Kirk said that the ship’s commissioning will bring the admiral’s legacy as a reformer back into the fleet.

“The shape of the superstructure and the arrangement of its antennas significantly reduce radar cross section, making the ship less visible to enemy radar at sea”, a Navy statement said. “They have demonstrated superb technical expertise, teamwork and toughness over the last three months”, Kirk said.

There are inevitable lighthearted comparisons of the futuristic-looking ship to the Starship Enterprise and the skipper to the mythical Captain Kirk.

U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, visited the Zumwalt on Friday, and he and Rowden said technologies aboard will likely be added to other classes of Navy ships moving forward.