DDG-1000 News

[Pacfanweb]

I think it'll be great as a technology demonstrator. Hopefully they will lead to a sizable follow on class of ships after the Zumwalts get put through their paces.

Essentially, the Zumwalts fell victim to politics. Congress didn't want the navy to retire the battleships without a replacement for shore bombardment duties. The navy didn't like big manpower and part intensive ships from the 1940s cutting a swath through their budgets.

The Zumwalts were the compromise. Lots of new tech and radical designs in a huge destroyer designed to provide naval fire support.

Which they STILL don't have, by the way. And haven't since 1991.

[85 gt kid]

'92 actually :). Funny they didn't want them gone without a replacement and yet 23 years later there's still nothing there and yet they haven't complained? Granted the Zumwalts have been on the boards for years but you'd think they would have had some kind of stop gap in between??

[SteveDaPirate]

Which they STILL don't have, by the way. And haven't since 1991.

Is air power an adequate replacement? The Navy seems to consider it to be, and has invested heavily there.

Air power is certainly more flexible with much greater range and variety of payloads put on target. Sustained volume of fire certainly suffers, although salvo sizes are probably actually larger with aircraft than with BBs. Do you think the increased accuracy of PGMs has made high sustained volume of fire less important?

[gunnut]

Is air power an adequate replacement? The Navy seems to consider it to be, and has invested heavily there.

Air power is certainly more flexible with much greater range and variety of payloads put on target. Sustained volume of fire certainly suffers, although salvo sizes are probably actually larger with aircraft than with BBs. Do you think the increased accuracy of PGMs has made high sustained volume of fire less important?

Yes, PGM has advanced enough to the point of largely replace volume of fire. We can pretty much hit anything we can identify. We can identify quite a bit these days. If we can't identify where and what to hit, what good is an artillery barrage? If a sustained barrage is needed from 9 16" tubes, why don't we just send in the BUFFs and level the place?

Most of shore bombardment was done by 5" tubes, even in WW2. I'm sure if we ask Gun Grape nicely, he'll explain what the Marines need when conducting a landing on a hostile beach, and why. I'm pretty sure he won't ask for 16" guns. He would like 5" guns from close range and PGMs from the sky.

[ChrisV71]

Zumwalt sailed today on her trial runs

http://wtkr.com/2015/12/07/future-us...to-sea-trials/

http://www.oregonlive.com/today/inde...at_the_he.html

[jlvfr]

*looks at prow

When will they test "Ramming speed!!"? ;)

[gunnut]

I wonder if the chief engineer's name is Scott.

[surfgun]

I look forward to seeing how she looks at speed. Of course everyone wants to see how she rolls in the big stuff.

[DonBelt]

tues night seas 2-4 ft, gusts up to 20 kt. Kids stuff, but it would still be interesting to see how she moves.

[TopHatter]

[surfgun]

No sign of the 30mm guns in the photos. I wonder when they will be fitted?

[TopHatter]

[DonBelt]

[tbm3fan]

The shot in the haze for a moment makes me wonder where the Statue of Liberty walked off to.

[jlvfr]

No sign of the 30mm guns in the photos. I wonder when they will be fitted?

There are big hatches midway up the superstructure. Maybe they are there?