Finally at Sea

摘要

It has been a long time coming, but the Navy finally put to sea the long, gleaming gray hull of the future. The first ship in a three-ship class, Zumwalt (DDG 1000), is back at General Dynamics Bath Iron Works in Maine after six days of builder's trials in December. It marks a huge milestone for the futuristic ship, which the Navy began constructing in 2008 but endured delays and dramatic changes to the program scope along the way. The Navy originally planned to build 32 ships, but the program was repeatedly truncated until the service settled on just three. Now, the Navy finally is seeing the fruits of the ambitious project that perhaps did not quite turn out how leadership envisioned. During builder's trials aboard Zumwalt, the crew and Raytheon personnel demonstrated ship systems, including its integrated propulsion system, small boat operations, auxiliary systems and other essential capabilities.