Navy

US Navy’s Zumwalt Stealth Destroyer Will Soon Have Working Weapons

The USS Zumwalt stealth destroyer joined the Navy in 2016, but due to budget shifts, it’s never had a working weapons system. However, the final touches on the ship’s conversion into a standard guided missile destroyer will soon be completed.

The world’s largest destroyer will soon have a working weapons system - four years after being commissioned into the US Navy. A source inside the Zumwalt program told Defense News on Saturday that the final piece of the ship’s new combat system is due to be installed before the month is out.

The massive USS Zumwalt was conceived as a replacement for the shore-shelling capabilities of the US battleship fleet. When the four Iowa-class battleships were deactivated for good after the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the Navy went looking for a replacement warship capable of ship-to-shore bombardment in support of a Marine landing. 

The SC-21 research and development program eventually yielded the Zumwalt, built around the powerful Advanced Gun System, a 155-millimeter cannon capable of firing 10 rounds a minute at targets up to 83 nautical miles away. Each Zumwalt-class ship was to have two such cannons, giving them the effective firepower of two 155-millimeter howitzer batteries, or roughly 16 land-based guns.