The First Two Zumwalt-Class Destroyers For The U.S. Navy Will be Delivered One Year Later

The Zumwalt-class guided-missile destroyer DDG 1000 is floated out of dry dock at the General Dynamics Bath Iron Works shipyard in Maine. (image courtesy General Dynamics/US Navy)

Bloomberg: General Dynamics’ Destroyers for U.S. Navy More Than a Year Late

Delivery of General Dynamics Corp.’s first two electric-powered Zumwalt-class destroyers for the U.S. Navy is running more than a year late, in part for lack of enough electricians, according to the service.

Work at the contractor’s Bath Iron Works unit in Maine has fallen behind “due to the complexity of the first-ever all-electric ship and the particular demand it has created for skilled electricians shipyard-wide,” Commander Thurraya Kent, a Navy spokeswoman, said in an e-mailed statement.

Update #1: US Navy sees year delay in delivery of General Dynamics warships -- Reuters
Update #2: Delivery of first two Zumwalt destroyers delayed -- Defense News

WNU Editor: Three ships costing $22 billion .... and they are late by a year .... what more can anyone say after that.

Is America’s Newest Destroyer Already Outdated?

America’s Newest Destroyer Is Already Outdated -- James R. Holmes, The Diplomat

To be effective, Zumwalt destroyers require command of the sea, which the US can no longer take for granted.

Hie thee hence, sea fighters, to peruse Information Dissemination‘s take on the U.S. Navy’s Zumwalt-class destroyer. Pseudo-pseudonymous pundit “Lazarus” gives a nifty profile of the newfangled vessel. That’s worth your time in itself. Though not in so many words, moreover, he depicts the attention-grabbing DDG-1000 stories of recent weeks and months as a red herring. Sure, Zumwalt features a “tumblehome” hull that makes the ship look like the second coming of USS Monitor. (This is not a compliment.) The hull tapers where it should flare and flares where it should taper. Zounds!

Yet more than cosmetics occasions commentary. Some navy-watchers voice concern about tumblehome hulls’ seakeeping ability in rough waters. Others question their ability to remain buoyant and stable after suffering mishaps or battle damage. That’s a worry in a “minimum manned” ship that relies on automated damage control. (The very idea of automated firefighting and flooding control, and sparsely populated fire parties, sits poorly with this former fire marshal.) In any event, time will tell whether the naval architects got it right.

Read more ....

My Comment: New weapon systems .... when finally deployed .... are usually out of date. But they are deployed .... unlike the more advanced versions that are usually still in the design/planning phase.