USS Zumwalt Is Running Six Years Late

Popular Mechanics: The USS Zumwalt Won't Be Battle-Ready Until 2021

The first stealth destroyer of its kind is running six years late.

* The new stealth destroyer USS Zumwalt is six years late.
* The ship won't be ready to perform any missions until September 2021.
* The ship costs $7.6 billion, or more than half as much as an aircraft carrier, and its two Advanced Gun Systems lack ammunition.

The USS Zumwalt, the world’s first stealth warship, won’t be ready for any sort of action until the second half of 2021. The six hundred foot long destroyer is six years late and has racked up a total price tag of $7.8 billion dollars. The ship’s two heavy guns, designed to provide long range gunfire support, are still sidelined by a lack of affordable ammunition.

The USS Zumwalt was laid down in 2011 at Bath Iron Works in Maine and commissioned into the U.S. Navy in 2016. The 16,000-ton, 600-foot-long destroyer is designed to have the radar signature of a small fishing boat and is armed with 80 vertical launch missile silos and two 30-millimeter automatic cannons.

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Update #1: The Navy's new $7.8 billion stealth destroyer is now delayed for a sixth year, surprising no one (Task & Purpose)
Update #2: The U.S. navy’s 'new' $7.8 billion USS Zumwalt destroyer is running six years late (National Interest)

WNU Editor: The USS Zumwalt program is not the only Navy program that has problems .... Failure to launch: U.S. Navy has a ship building problem and no real solutions (War Is Boring).