This is the world's most beautiful destroyer, known as "the small fresh meat of the battleship".
If a beauty contest is to be held for the Battleship, Zumwalt should be able to win the first place. Its wave-piercing bow is both avant-garde and cool, with sharp pointed bows that bear some resemblance to the long knives in the hands of rangers, while the central island is angular, with a line and geometric beauty. Moreover, the Zumwalt is painted in bright silver throughout, sailing in the vast sea, like a white-robed warrior in a thousand armies. The Zumwalt destroyer is really handsome and brings the industrial aesthetic to life. However, handsomeness can not be eaten as a meal, combat ability is the key, then what is the real combat strength of Zumwalt?
The United States has paid a lot of effort in Zumwalt, integrating almost all advanced technologies, and is known as "ten key technologies". Among them, "stealth", "Aegis", "electromagnetic cannon", "all-electric propulsion" are the most interesting. Stealth is no longer a fighter specialty, and Zumwalt's stealth performance is equally remarkable. It makes extensive use of carbon fiber stealth materials, and a unique fully enclosed ship structure, with submarine-like stealth capabilities. At the time of sailing, the probability of being discovered is less than 10%. Moreover, Zumwalt's overall shape shrinks from bottom to top and inward, which can greatly reduce the radar reflection cross-section. Even if it is unfortunate to be discovered, the enemy army cannot make accurate judgments through radar. Zumwalt was also the quietest destroyer. In order to solve the problem of noise, its power system is installed on the shock absorption flotation, which can reduce the noise value to about 110 decibels. Open guns are easy to hide, and dark arrows are difficult to defend. With good stealth performance, the Zumwalt destroyer can hide under the Nine Shadows and attack unconsciously.
On the power level, Zumwalt is also very novel, using all-electric propulsion, equipped with a power supply of about 58 MW. The commonly used lighting in the home is about 50 watts. Zumwalt uses the same electricity as lighting in smaller cities. In order to meet such a huge amount of electricity, Zumwalt installed 4 Rolls-Royce generator sets and 2 auxiliary generators. Zumwalt is also equipped with the well-known "Aegis" system, "Aegis" is through the electronic computer to control the control of weapons, strong computing power, in the face of the enemy's "saturation attack", can quickly make judgments, efficient interception of enemy missiles, with good air defense capabilities.
Zumwalt claimed to have "ten key technologies", and among these advanced technologies, the most eye-catching is the "electromagnetic railgun". However, when Zumwalt was officially launched, many people felt cheated. Where did the said "electromagnetic cannon" go? Why did the United States temporarily change its mind and cancel the installation of electromagnetic guns?
It was the most expensive destroyer and cost up to $4 billion. After the Zumwalt destroyer was finalized, high hopes were placed, and the United States had planned to purchase 28 ships and equip the navy on a large scale. In fact, 3 ships were purchased. This is because Zumwalt is too expensive for even the wealthy United States to bear. An ordinary destroyer costs about $1.5 billion, but Zumwalt is as high as $4 billion.
Zumwalt is the world's largest guided-missile destroyer, with a total length of 182.8 meters, a width of about 24 meters, and a full load displacement of about 14.6 tons. It is larger than some cruisers. At the design stage, the budget of the United States is about 2 billion US dollars. However, when it was built, it continued to add new technology to Zumwalt, resulting in its cost becoming higher and higher.
According to the original construction plan, the hull will be equipped with advanced "electromagnetic railgun" and "laser weapons". Later, there was really no extra budget, and only these two weapons could be removed. The advanced electromagnetic railgun was replaced by two 155 mm naval guns. Naval guns fire LRLAP long-range ground-attack shells. As an alternative, LRLAP shells are not less powerful than electromagnetic guns. It specializes in ground targets and destroys a building with one shot. And the accuracy of LLRLAP is extremely high, and the error of the round probability is less than 50 meters. In the test, 6 shells in a row can hit the same target.
However, something very embarrassing happened, and its shells were too expensive. A naval gun is theoretically equipped with 920 rounds of shells, and the unit price of a shell is about $800,000. It costs $1.472 billion to fill up two naval guns. In addition to naval guns, Zumwalt has 80 vertical launch systems that can be loaded with Sea Sparrow short-range anti-aircraft missiles, Tomahawk cruise missiles, and ALAM advanced ground-to-ground missiles. This set of missiles cost hundreds of millions of dollars to buy. Ammunition costs, manufacturing costs, as well as billions of research and development costs invested upfront, as well as later maintenance costs and fuel costs. Combined, a Zumwalt costs two to four times more than an ordinary destroyer, almost on par with an aircraft carrier.
It is a literal "gold-devouring beast". Therefore, the United States only symbolically built 3 ships and did not continue to build.
When Zumwalt officially entered service, the voices of doubt followed. Some military experts asked, is Zumwalt really that powerful? Did the United States spend money unjustly? Bought a boat with embroidered pillows in vain.
This is the most flashy battleship. In terms of appearance, Zumwalt should be able to rank among the best, belonging to the small fresh meat in the battleship. On technology, Zumwalt claims to have "ten key technologies" and is at the forefront of science and technology. In terms of tonnage, Zumwalt has a full load of about 14,600 tons of displacement, which is the world's largest guided missile destroyer. All kinds of data suggest that the Zumwalt should be the world's strongest destroyer, however, some people have raised different opinions, indicating that it may be a useless flower shelf.
First, the Zumwalt destroyer used an avant-garde wave-piercing bow, and there were problems with the stability and seaworthiness of this structure. Especially in the face of waves of more than five or six meters, the hull will be very bumpy. And because the wave-piercing bow does not have a dry port that floats out, the sea water will rush to the hull, causing serious sea erosion. And the wave-piercing bow will cause the floating center of the hull to be lower than the center of gravity, and it is more likely to roll over when encountering strong winds. In short, Zumwalt could only sail on calm seas, unable to withstand strong winds and waves.
Secondly, Zumwalt's stealth performance is really good, but it is difficult to come in handy. As a destroyer, it is mainly responsible for patrol, vigilance, air defense, anti-submarine, ground attack and other tasks. Zumwalt doesn't need to avoid the layers of radar detection nets like stealth fighters, it often goes head-to-head with enemy warships. They have all collided with the enemy at close range, and there is no room for stealth performance. Zumwalt seems to have pointed out the wrong point of technology, mastering some high-tech but not suitable for his own technology.
Among the many shortcomings, the most criticized is the weapon system. Zumwalt adopted a fully enclosed structure, including electronic equipment, weapons and ammunition, helicopters, etc. all integrated in a fully enclosed bridge. Space on the bridge is limited, leaving little room for weapons to be installed. As a result, Zumwalt had only 80 vertical launch systems. The average Arleigh Burke destroyer had 96. In contrast, Zumwalt actually retreated in firepower. Spending more money, the combat effectiveness has declined, and it is no wonder that the United States only built 3 ships and then stopped production.
This is a battleship that only cares about being handsome and ignores the significance of actual combat. Well, that's for a moment about the Zumwalt destroyer. If you have anything you want to say, please leave a message in the comment area, like you can click a follow.