The U.S. Navy’s future guided-missile destroyer USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) departed Bath, Maine to conduct acceptance trials with the Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV) on April 20.
While underway, many of the ship’s key systems and technologies including navigation, propulsion readiness, auxiliary systems, habitability, fire protection and damage control capabilities will be demonstrated to ensure they meet the Navy’s requirements, a U.S. Navy statement said.
DDG 1000 is the first of a new class of warships in the US Navy. Often dubbed as the stealthiest ship ever built, it is designed as a multi-mission destroyer able to operate independently or as an integral part of a joint or multi-national naval task force.
The construction of the ship began in February 2009 at General Dynamics Bath Iron Works shipyard. Four years later, the destroyer was launched in October 2013 and then christened in April 2014.
Initially, 32 Zumwalt destroyers were supposed to be built. Over the years the number, however, declined to three vessels.