Zumwalt-class destroyer

Zumwalt class

USS Zumwalt undergoing sea trials.
Class overview
Builders:	Bath Iron Works
Operators:	United States Navy
Preceded by:	Arleigh Burke class
Cost:	$22.5 billion program cost (FY15) $3.96B/unit (FY15 excl R&D) $4.1B/unit (incl R&D) as of 2016
In commission:	15 October 2016
Building:	1
Planned:	32
Completed:	2
Cancelled:	29
General characteristics
Type:	guided missile destroyer
Displacement:	14,564 long tons (14,798 t)
Length:	600 ft (180 m)
Beam:	80.7 ft (24.6 m)
Draft:	27.6 ft (8.4 m)
Propulsion:	2 × Rolls-Royce MT30 gas turbines (35.4 MW (47,500 hp) each) driving Curtiss-Wright electric generators 2 × Rolls-Royce RR4500 turbine generators (3.8 MW (5,100 hp) each) 2 × propellers driven by electric motors Total: 78 MW (105,000 shp)
Speed:	In excess of 30 kn (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Troops:	U.S. Marines
Complement:	140
Sensors and processing systems:	AN/SPY-3 Multi-Function Radar (MFR) (X band active electronically scanned array)
Armament:	20 × MK 57 VLS modules, with a total of 80 launch cells RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM), 4 per cell Tactical Tomahawk, 1 per cell Vertical Launch Anti-Submarine Missile (ASROC), 1 per cell 2 × 155 mm (6 in)/62 caliber Advanced Gun System; 920 × 155 mm rounds, 70–100 LRLAP rounds 2 × 30 mm (1.2 in) Mk 46 Mod 2 Gun Weapon System
Aircraft carried:	1 × SH-60 LAMPS or MH-60R helicopter 3 × MQ-8 Fire Scout VT-UAVs
Aviation facilities:	Flight deck and enclosed hangar for up to two medium-lift helicopters

The Zumwalt-class destroyer is a class of United States Navy guided missile destroyers designed as multi-mission stealth ships with a focus on land attack. The class emerged from the previous DD-21 vessel program, previously known as the "DD(X)". The class is multi-role and designed for surface warfare, anti-aircraft warfare, and naval gunfire support. They take the place of battleships in filling the former congressional mandate for naval fire support, though the requirement was reduced to allow them to fill this role. The vessels' appearance has been compared to that of the historic ironclad warship.

The class has a low radar cross-section; an integrated power system that can send electricity to the electric drive motors or weapons, the Total Ship Computing Environment Infrastructure (TSCEI), automated fire-fighting systems, automated piping rupture isolation, and may someday include a railgun or free-electron lasers. The class is designed to require a smaller crew and be less expensive to operate than comparable warships. It has a wave-piercing tumblehome hull form whose sides slope inward above the waterline, which has been stated to reduce the radar cross-section (RCS) by returning much less energy than a conventional flare hull form. The U.S. Naval Institute stated "the original design of the ship would have had a much smaller RCS, but cost considerations prompted the Navy over the last several years to make the trades in increasing RCS to save money..."

The lead ship is named Zumwalt for Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, and carries the hull number DDG-1000. Originally 32 ships were planned, with $9.6 billion research and development costs spread across the class. As costs overran estimates, the quantity was reduced to 24, then to 7, and finally to 3, significantly increasing the cost-per-ship to $3.96 billion (excluding R&D costs) – well-exceeding the per-unit cost of a nuclear-powered Virginia-class submarine ($2.688 billion). The dramatic per-unit cost increases eventually triggered a Nunn-McCurdy Amendment breach, and cancellation of further production. In April 2016, the total program cost was $22.5 billion with an average cost of $7.5 billion per ship.