The U.S. military is currently the most powerful in the world, and as a military superpower, the United States spends heavily on its defense. The U.S. Navy possesses surface, underwater, and aerial combat capabilities, capable of both independent maritime operations and joint operations with the Army and Air Force. This formidable naval strength provides a great sense of security for those who immigrate to the United States. Recently, the U.S. Navy held the first sea trials for the largest destroyer in its history. This immense military strength makes citizens of this nation, which is composed of immigrants, all the more proud on the world stage.
On December 7th local time, amid cheers from over 200 workers, sailors, and residents, the U.S. Navy’s USS Zumwalt destroyer left the shipyard for its initial sea trials. This warship, which resembles something out of a science fiction film, has a displacement of nearly 15,000 tons. With its superior performance and immense ground-attack firepower, it has been hailed as a revolutionary “warship of the future.”
The USS Zumwalt, designated DDG-1000, is approximately 180 meters long with a construction cost of as much as $4.3 billion. It is the largest destroyer ever built by the United States and the lead ship of its three-vessel namesake class.
The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command stated on its Twitter account: “Zumwalt underway for the first time.” The microblog post also included several photos of the futuristic-looking warship.
Bath Iron Works will test and adjust the basic performance of the warship during the sea trials, with the goal of delivering it to the Navy sometime next year.
Although the USS Zumwalt is a massive vessel, its wave-piercing tumblehome hull design gives it a radar cross-section only one-fiftieth that of traditional destroyers, making it appear no larger than a fishing boat on radar. Moreover, it leaves almost no wake while sailing, making it much harder to detect. The destroyer is powered by four gas turbine generators and is equipped with an innovative integrated power system, with a total power generation capacity of 78 megawatts—nearly 10 times that of the U.S. Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, the backbone of its fleet.
Ma Yao, a special researcher at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs at Shanghai International Studies University, analyzed that the Zumwalt’s large tonnage and high power capacity are intended to provide ample electricity for future installation of new-concept weapons that require massive amounts of energy, such as electromagnetic railguns and high-energy laser weapons, as well as to accommodate more advanced radar and other sensors.
Ma Yao explained to the reporter that after the Cold War, with the changes in the international situation and the environment of military struggle, the U.S. Navy began a strategic shift from securing command of the open seas to exercising command of the seas in littoral regions to strike deep into the heartland of the Eurasian continent. The Zumwalt-class destroyer is a product of this military philosophy.
He noted that the ship is equipped with a large number of land-attack cruise missiles capable of delivering long-range precision strikes with unprecedented intensity; its ship-based S-band and X-band radars can detect long-range targets,
providing commanders with battlefield decision-making information. As such, this ship is an information-driven warship with exceptional battlefield awareness capabilities. In terms of combat application, this class of ship can conduct joint operations with littoral combat ships, the new-generation Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers, and B-2 stealth bombers to deliver deep, systematic, multi-angle, multi-wave, and continuous strikes against the enemy, enabling the United States, as a maritime nation, to project long-range firepower into the heartland of the Eurasian continent.