Saturday, December 29, 2012

Progress Continues On The Zumwalt-Class Destroyers

Artist's rendering of the new Zumwalt-class destroyer. US Navy

'Back To The Future' Warships Take Shape -- UT San Diego

A futuristic class of destroyers that will be homeported in San Diego reached a key development milestone earlier this month at a shipyard in Maine, where the 900-ton deckhouse of the Zumwalt was added to its hull, creating a ship that strongly resembles some of the "Ironclad" vessels of the American Civil War.

General Dynamics' Bath Iron Works (BIW) is building three of the ships -- the Zumwalt, Michael Monsoor and Lyndon B. Johnson -- in a program that represents a major technological leap for the Navy. At 610-feet, the Zumwalts will be 105 feet longer than the modern Burke-class destroyers. In fact, they'll be the largest destroyers ever built for the Navy and the first to be propelled entirely by electric drive systems. The Burkes have gas turbine engines, and the old Ironclads were steam powered.

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My Comment: Considering the fact that these destroyers cost billions .... I doubt that we are going to see many of them.

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