Clad in Controversy

Newswise — Decades in the making, the USS Zumwalt, the first of a new class of guided-missile destroyers is nearing completion. It’s perhaps the highest high-tech ship yet, but some have criticized it as trying to do too much, too soon. This picture-filled article surveys the ship’s cutting-edge technologies, including its integrated power system, which uses four gas-turbine generators to deliver power for all the ship’s systems, including two giant electric motors attached to the drive shafts and propellers. One day those generators may even run electrically powered weapons, leading some commentators to dub the Zumwalt the U.S. Navy’s first truly electric ship.