Live Long & Prosper! Captain James Kirk Takes Delivery Of USS Zumwalt

By Dennis

The United States Navy has taken delivery of a rather odd-looking ship. Called the USS Zumwalt, the odd looking ship is a stealth destroyer.

uss zumwalt

The $4.4 billion USS Zumwalt is a 186-metre long, 24.4-metre wide destroyer and weighs in at 15,700 tons. Despite its huge size, the Zumwalt is 50 times stealthier than current destroyers.

The Zumwalt is the first of three Zumwalt class destroyers. The name Zumwalt comes from the name of the late Admiral Elmo Russell "Bud" Zumwalt Jr. who was called ' the conscience of the United States Navy.' by former US President Bill Clinton when he delivered the Eulogy at Zumwalt's funeral in 2000.

The Zumwalt is powered by two Rolls-Royce gas turbines along with two Rolls-Royce turbine generator and two electric motors which drive two propellers. The six power plants combine together to produce 104,600 bhp.

The new Stealth destroyer carries a whole array of weapons including 80 Tomahawk, Sea Sparrow and Standard missiles along with anti-submarine rockets.

Also present are two 155mm guns and two 30mm guns that can fire projectiles at target that are an extremely long way away.

The new Zumwalt also has a drone killing Laser system which can also be used against incoming enemy boars and the destroyer also makes use of an electromagnetic rail gun that can propel projectiles into targets 201 kilometers away at a frightening speed of Mach 7.5 (9261km/h).

The Zumwalt will formally be inducted into the US Navy in October 2016 and will be based in San Diego. Captaining the USS Zumwalt will be Captain James Kirk and no he's not the James Kirk from the USS Enterprise from Star Trek.

Most Read Articles

English
Read more on: #off beat
Article Published On: Monday, May 23, 2016, 18:46 [IST]
Get Instant News Updates
Enable
x
Notification Settings X
Time Settings
Done
Clear Notification X
Do you want to clear all the notifications from your inbox?
Settings X