The question is: what can Zumwalts do which Arleigh Burkes can't?
I have always viewed these as concept vessels. Not a complete waste of money, because they were test beds, but...not well spent money either.
In my opinion, you don’t spend money on a class of vessels as test beds, you take the concept of the USS Albacore which is a museum in Portsmouth, NH, where even though it was conventionally powered, it pioneered a lot of the concepts of future attack subs in it. It was never meant as a class.
And the Zumwalts are big. I drive by Bath, ME relatively often, and have seen one or the other of them being built there, and I was always surprised at how huge they were for a “destroyer”...they displace only a few thousand tons less than a Baltimore class heavy cruiser of WWII vintage.
They won’t last long
The original conception was a real game-changer. It seemed to have tremendous potential. Technically a destroyer, many people considered it to be a stealthy battleship with real 21st century technology. And the possible future addition of a true rail gun.
But congress cut funding, and the 30+ fleet of Zumwalts became just a few outrageously expensive experimental ships. The ammunition was too costly, the rail gun isn’t happening, and no one really wants to send an experimental platform into a war zone.
Failed program, in my view.
Gigantism gave us the dinosaurs who were succeeded by rats.
A ship that you cannot afford to lose is a ship you cannot deploy.
Quantity has a certain quality about it.
A trillion dollars here, a trillion dollars there, and soon we’re talking real money.
Sorry. But in the modern technological era, virtually all surface combatants are obsolete. Those brave young sailors will never know or see the geek sitting behind a console in a bunker who killed them.
For your interest.
It looks scary, I like that part.
‘Stealth’ is not going to hide you from a satellite.
This is the new woke US Navy. The ship currently has no mission, is not survivable in combat, has no offensive capability, flammable, now, with additions, is not stealthy, lacks any real defense, is basically a Navy brass experimental toy, but the Navy has ordered or is building 3-4 more of these billion dollar boondoggles to match the LCS class (headed for scrap yard), and the $13 billion Ford class trainer CVNs - all more concept toys. All this money spent on these toys has made maintenance and spare parts lag.