Navy Destroyers Go Retro

The Navy recently awarded two contracts for the new DDG 1000/1001 Zumwalt-Class destroyers. The destroyer class will introduce a tumblehome hull design, which is oddly reminiscent of the CSS Virginia (the Merrimac of Monitor vs. Merrimac fame), the first ironclad. (The CSS Virginia, incidentally, was retrofitted at the shipard where I work).

CSS Virginia (c. 1861)

USS Zumwalt (c. 2010)

This new destroyer will have an all-electric propulsion system, perimeter-launched missile systems, a gun with a 50-mile range, and, despite being larger than its Arleigh Burke-class predecessors, will have a radar cross section 50 times smaller.

This much technology hasn't been introduced in a single hullform since the Littoral Combat Ships, USS Freedom (LCS-1) and USS Independence (LCS-2). And the success of that platform? The Secretary of the Navy terminated the contract for the third LCS after massive cost overruns on the first two.

Good luck, Zumwalt.