Zumwalt: The Navy's massive, high-tech destroyer is here
The cutting-edge warship finally enters the water,
chockablock with an all-electric integrated power system, an advanced gun
system, radar-reflecting angles, and a striking inward-sloping tumblehome hull.
General Dynamics Bath Iron Works launched the
first of the Navy’s next-generation Zumwalt-class destroyers on Monday at its
Bath, Maine, shipyard.
The 610-foot-long ship is chockablock with new technologies
including radar reflecting angles, a striking inward-sloping tumblehome hull, an
all-electric integrated power system, and an advanced gun system.
Tumblehome hull
This exterior shot gives a good perspective on the
tumblehome design. Meanwhile, on the inside: the cutting-edge operating system
aboard the Zumwalt, known as the Total Ship Computing Environment (TSCE), was
developed by Raytheon.
The TSCE is the first large-scale implementation of the US
Navy's open-architecture strategy. It is designed to bind all Zumwalt on-board
systems together and allow for a significant reduction in manning -- with an
standard crew size of 130 and an aviation detachment of 28 sailors -- compared
to Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.
Raytheon said the systems' open architecture design enables
commonality across the US Navy's entire family of ships, which allow for easier
updating and systems modifications for years to come.
Ready, aim, fire.
The DDG 1000 Zumwalt has a Peripheral Vertical Launching
System (PVLS), with each PVLS compartment containing and protecting one MK57
Vertical Launching System.
The cutting-edge computer weapons system also features a
couple of 155-millimeter advanced gun systems which can fire rocket-propelled
warheads at a range of up to 83 nautical miles. The Navy said the gun system
firepower is equivalent to having twelve 155mm howitzers -- giving the ship a
three-fold improvement in naval surface fire coverage when compared to current
capabilities.
Design features and systems
The Zumwalt-class destroyer represents what the US Navy
describes as a next-generation destroyer technology for deployment in land
attacks and anti-surface and anti-air missions.
Workers at General Dynamics' Bath Iron Works in Maine will
continue working on the ship through the year. The timetable is to deliver the
ship to the Navy in late 2014. The first Zumwalt is expected to be sailing the
seas and fully operational sometime in 2016, the Navy said.
Autonomic Fire Suppression System
Along with increased offensive capabilities, the Zumwalt's
Autonomic Fire Suppression System equips the ship with an automated
damage-control system. It uses a network of sensors, cameras, and automated
firefighting capabilities offering the Zumwalt fastest response time to
threats.
Enhanced stealth capabilities
With a quiet and efficient all-electric propulsion system,
the inward-sloping hull design optimizes speed, maneuverability, and stability
while minimizing engine noise and infrared signatures for enhanced stealth
capabilities
Big ship, low profile
The absence of high-profile masts and rotating antennas,
combined with a composite-material deckhouse, means the Zumwalt-class destroyer
will be extremely low profile.
Water sleeting along the sides, along with passive cool air
induction, also reduce signature thermal emissions, and although it's almost 40
percent larger than a current Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, the radar
signature will be more like that of a simple fishing boat than a menacing
military machine.
