BALTIMORE–About five weeks after the U.S. Navy’s first Zumwalt-class DDG-1000 destroyer left its construction site, the commanding officer said Thursday he is pleased with the ship’s performance so far.
“If I wasn’t comfortable, we wouldn’t be here,” Capt. James A. Kirk told reporters at the Port of Baltimore, where the ship is participating in Maryland Fleet Week and is scheduled to be commissioned Saturday. “I’m comfortable. This warship has demonstrated itself for a period of test, trials and training that it is effective for use.”
Built at General Dynamics [GD] Bath Iron Works in Maine, the 15,500-ton, 610-foot-long vessel is “a very stable platform” and has rolled less on the Atlantic Ocean than an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer or Ticonderoga-class cruiser would, said Lt. Rick Moore, a Navy spokesman. After leaving the shipyard Sept. 7, the DDG-1000 visited Naval Station Newport in Rhode Island and Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia before heading to Baltimore.
“It rides marvelously in all the seas that we’ve been in,” Kirk said. “It feels like a really souped-up sport utility vehicle. It’s not like a Ferrari, but it’s like a very big SUV that is made to go very fast”
Kirk said the crew of 147 sailors is learning important lessons about how to better operate the ship. For example, for one of the steps involving the throttle control, “you really had to know how many seconds to push it,” he said. “If you didn’t push it that long, it didn’t like that. We made sure that we’re very specific in our procedures, so now we have a very effective procedure that works every time.”
The ship is expected arrive at its homeport at Naval Base San Diego by year’s end. Additional communications and other systems will be installed there. The ship will also undergo tests of its combat systems, including its missiles, rockets and guns. It is slated to be ready for deployment in 2018.
The ship has a sleek, stealthy design and more automation than earlier classes of ships. It can carry two MH-60R helicopters or one MH-60R and three unmanned helicopters, such as the Northrop Grumman [NOC] MQ-8C Fire Scout. A Fire Scout was displayed on the DDG-1000’s flight deck in Baltimore. The ship is also equipped with rigid inflatable boats for force protection, maritime interdiction, special operations and “man overboard” missions.
The other two Zumwalt-class destroyers – the Michael Monsoor (DDG-1001) and the Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG-1002) – are under construction at Bath Iron Works. All three ships will be stationed in San Diego. The Navy once hoped to buy 32 DDG-1000s but slashed the number due to cost overruns.