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Solid state laser death ray. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Debate Over Navy's Zumwalt Destroyer's Seakeeping Abilities Doused After Rough Seas TestsThe Navy sent Zumwalt into two real-world storms as part of trials to prove its controversial hull design could handle heavy seas.The U.S. Navy says the stealth destroyer USS Zumwalt successfully completed the second and final phase of its Rough-Water Trials late last year. This involved sending the ship into two real-world storms with waves between around 16 and a half and 20 feet tall. The testing was extremely significant given the ship's inward-sloping tumblehome hull form, which critics have long said would make it a disaster waiting to...

ARLINGTON, Va. - The Navy’s newest destroyer may fire a not-yet-to-be fielded Conventional Prompt Strike conventionally-armed missile engineered to hit anywhere on earth within an hour, service program managers said. The weapon, now being considered by Navy weapons developers for the emerging USS Zumwalt, will bring new attack options to the stealthy destroyer being prepared for combat as soon as 2021, Capt. Kevin Smith, Zumwalt-class destroyer Program Manager said Jan. 15 at the Surface Naval Association Annual Symposium. “This would be the perfect platform for Conventional Prompt Strike,” Smith said. The Conventional Prompt Strike weapons program, which emerged [in] the...

USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) has been undergoing trials and combat systems outfitting in and around her home port of San Diego. The ship's metamorphosis into an operational combat ship is something we have been following closely. Recently, we reported on additions to her stealthy frame that would only hurt the size of radar signature. These included an exposed mast and a number of communications aerials bolted directly onto her deckhouse instead of being integrated into it seamlessly. Now, a new photo shows her fitted with twin 30mm Bushmaster cannons for the very first time. The Zumwalt class, as we know it...

Navy struggles to find a place for Bath-built Zumwalt stealth destroyers The Zumwalts were built for a mission that the Navy no longer views as a priority. BY NATHAN STROUT BRUNSWICK TIMES RECORD Friday, February 1, 2019 BRUNSWICK — To those who kept a close eye on the development of the Navy’s futuristic, next-generation destroyers, calling the Zumwalt-class program a disappointment could be an understatement. In the early 2000s, the Navy hoped to build 32 highly advanced stealth destroyers built solely at Bath Iron Works. BIW employees were hopeful that the new destroyers would be a source of work for...

The future USS Michael Monsoor, set to become the U.S. Navy’s second stealthy Zumwalt-class destroyer, is underway for the first time for sea trials. The milestone comes as the service continues to reformulate the role of the ships, now saying they will be focused on attacking surface targets at sea, as well as on land, while the vessels' future seems as uncertain as ever in the face of continuing budget shortfalls and personnel problems. The second Zumwalt-class ship, also known as DDG-1001, sailed down the Kennebec River in Maine, on its way to the Altantic Ocean from Bath Iron Works...

The three new Zumwalt-class destroyers are in trouble. Originally envisioned as a fleet of more nearly three dozen destroyers, and the weapons that justified them, the Zumwalts have faced delays, cuts and staggering cost increases. As the ships teeter on the verge of white elephant status, could they become relevant again by taking on a new role, that of a stealthy ship killer? The Zumwalt-class destroyers were originally envisioned as a fleet of thirty-two destroyers designed to attack targets far inland with precision-guided howitzer shells. Designed in part to support amphibious landings by the U.S. Marine Corps, the Zumwalts were...

The three new Zumwalt-class destroyers are in trouble. Originally envisioned as a fleet of more nearly three dozen destroyers, and the weapons that justified them, the Zumwalts have faced delays, cuts and staggering cost increases. As the ships teeter on the verge of white elephant status, could they become relevant again by taking on a new role, that of a stealthy ship killer? The Zumwalt-class destroyers were originally envisioned as a fleet of thirty-two destroyers designed to attack targets far inland with precision-guided howitzer shells. Designed in part to support amphibious landings by the U.S. Marine Corps, the Zumwalts were...

U.S. considers Zumwalt for possible deployment near S. Korea 2017/02/06 SEOUL, Feb. 6 (Yonhap) -- The chief of the U.S. Pacific Command said last month that the Navy's newest Zumwalt destroyer could be deployed near South Korea to deter North Korean aggression, the defense ministry said Monday. In a meeting with South Korean lawmakers last month in Hawaii, Adm. Harry B. Harris, Jr., commander of the U.S. Pacific Command brought forth the idea of having the country's largest missile destroyer operating near the resort island of Jeju or Jinhae, 410 kilometers south of Seoul, the Ministry of National Defense confirmed....

The Zumwalt class stealth destroyer has become a floating example of just how miserably bastardized major defense acquisition programs can get. Now that the news has broke that the ship’s twin Advanced Gun Systems (AGS) won’t even have any ammunition to fire, because each shell costs nearly a million dollars, the Navy should quickly take another, highly proven route to replace the AGS mission set, and even expand it in the process. One of the shining technological stars of recent military operations abroad is the Army’s and the Marine’s High Mobility Mobile Rocket Artillery System, better known as HiMARS. The...

Next month the first DDG-1000 Zumwalt class stealth destroyer will be commissioned into US Navy service. The program has been through three name changes since it began two decades ago and the design’s planned production run has been slashed dramatically from nearly three dozen hulls to a measly three. The truth is that the assault on the Zumwalts started long before production was cut. The ship you see today, even in all its exotic glory, is the sad result of a long series of illogical cost-cutting initiatives and spastic fiscal re-prioritizations by the Navy. These misguided measures left the final...

The Navy gave a first look inside the stealthy and futuristic Zumwalt destroyer on Friday during the ship's first port stop at a Rhode Island naval station. The 610-foot-long warship has an angular shape to minimize its radar signature and cost more than $4.4 billion. It's the most expensive destroyer built for the Navy. It's headed from Naval Station Newport to Baltimore, where it will be commissioned in October before going to its homeport in San Diego. It was built at Bath Iron Works in Maine. During a tour, the Navy showed off the ship's bridge, weaponry and mission center....

The future USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000), the largest and most technologically advanced destroyer ever built for the U.S. Navy, has departed Bath Iron Works shipyard where it has been under construction for more than half a decade. At a total of cost of nearly $4 billion, the DDG 1000 is also the most expensive destroyer ever built for the U.S. Navy.

James Zumwalt is a retired Marine lieutenant colonel who served in the Vietnam war, the 1989 intervention into Panama and Operation Desert Storm. The son of the late Navy Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr., he's also a best-selling author, speaker and business executive. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. On Jan. 2, 2000, less than 48 hours into a new millennium, the U.S. Navy lost a 20th century hero and revered, visionary leader. Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr., 79, had succumbed to mesothelioma -- a lung cancer caused by asbestos exposure, incurred during his naval career. He...

BATH, Maine (AP) — The mother of a fallen Navy SEAL christened the second Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyer Saturday in honor of her son, who died in Iraq when he threw himself on an insurgent's grenade to save the lives of two fellow SEALS. The 610-foot, 15,000-ton ship, built by General Dynamics Bath Iron Works for the U.S. Navy, was named for Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Monsoor. The 25-year-old California native died in 2006 and was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously. "May God bless this ship, and all who sail within her," said Sally Monsoor before smashing a...

Capt. James Kirk just got the keys to the baddest ship in the fleet -- U.S. Navy's fleet, not Starfleet. The ship is the future USS Zumwalt, the first of the Navy's newest class of destroyers, and contractor General Dynamics turned it over to the Navy on Friday at Bath Iron Works in Maine. The ship will be commissioned -- and officially become the USS Zumwalt -- on October 15 in Baltimore. Until then, Capt. Kirk (U.S. Navy, not United Federation of Planets) and his crew will test the ship's array of futuristic systems.

General Dynamics Bath Iron Works delivered the first Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyer to the Navy on Friday, Naval Sea Systems Command announced. The delivery of the 16,000-ton Zumwalt (DDG-1000) optimized for stealth and operations close to shore follows last month’s successful acceptance trials of the ship overseen by the service’s Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV), Navy officials told USNI News. INSURV evaluated the ship’s hull, mechanical and engineering (HM&E) systems during the underway testing period last month. “Zumwalt’s crew has diligently trained for months in preparation of this day and they are ready and excited to take charge of...

BATH, Maine (AP) — The U.S. Navy is ready to take ownership of the Zumwalt, its largest and most technologically sophisticated destroyer. Sailors' uniforms and personal effects, supplies and spare parts are being moved aboard the 610-foot warship in anticipation of crew members taking on their new charge, said Capt. James Kirk, the destroyer's skipper. The Zumbalt is the first new class of warship built at Bath Iron Works since the Arleigh Burke slid into the Kennebec River in 1989. The shipyard is expected to turn the destroyer over to the Navy this week. "We've overcome lots of obstacles to...

This is one of the best pictures of the new USS Zumwalt destroyer yet. width=1000> There she is on her second (very successful) US Navy acceptance trials and will soon be turnd over to the US Navy soon. They will put her through her paces for the next 18 or more months before commissioning in late 2017 or so. Beautiful and very powerful, modern vessel. The second will launch soon. See my Flickr Album on this Ship for much more information

A newly revealed configuration of sensors set for next-generation destroyer Zumwalt (DDG-1000) could make the ship less stealthy than originally intended, several naval experts told USNI News on Wednesday. According to a new artist’s concept of the configuration from the service, the three ships in the Zumwalt-class will position sensors originally designed to be embedded in the ships’ composite deckhouses on a mast positioned on the front of the deck house, with several more sensors on either side of the deck house. The change will sacrifice some of the benefits of the composite deckhouse design, conceived to make the ship...