The keel of the Navy's future high tech destroyer, USS Zumwalt DDG-1000, was laid down yesterday at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine. DDG-1000 will be named in honor of former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Elmo R. "Bud" Zumwalt Jr., who served as Chief of Naval Operations from 1970-1974. The ship's co-sponsors, Ann Zumwalt, Mouzetta Zumwalt-Weathers, and Lt.Col. James G. Zumwalt symbolically authenticated the keel with a plate displaying the initials of all four children of the ship's namesake, including eldest son, the late-Elmo R. Zumwalt III. Today's shipbuilding techniques allow construction of ships to actually begin before the keel is laid by using advanced modular shipbuilding. Zumwalt's construction began months before. Keel laying continues to symbolically recognize the joining of the ship's components and the ceremonial beginning or birth of the ship.
Zumwalt is currently more than 60 percent complete and scheduled to deliver in fiscal year 2014. Construction on the second ship of the class, Michael Moonsoor (DDG 1001), began March 2010.
To read more about the Zumwalt's combat capabilities and the Advanced Gun System click on these links...
Zumwalt Class Multimission Destroyer
Here is a video explaining the mission of the DDG-1000 Zumwalt class destroyers...