The Navy’s new immense stealth destroyer U.S.S. Zumwalt successfully navigated around the retired executives and Jimmy Buffett fans to dock in Newport, Rhode Island on Thursday. One of readers got some lovely images of the mighty machine coming in to port.
The Zumwalt is 610 feet long with a 7,650 square foot flightdeck. Built by General Dynamics at a facility in Maine, the AP calls the vessel “the most expensive destroyer built for the navy” valued at “more than $4.4 billion.”
Jalopnik reader Eric Kaufman caught some photos and video of the thing coming in and was kind enough to share them with us. Pretty cool to see the Zumwalt motor past that dinky little day-sailer, right?
The Navy ship looks like it’s from a completely different planet. That fat-top-skinny-bottom shape, in which the hull seems to slant inward from the waterline rather than outward, is known as a “tumblehome” design. As we explained a few months ago–
“Though once common in the 1800s, as it’s a great way to stack cannons, the design concept fell out of favor once turrets became the norm as it’s inherently less stable than other designs. Which is an issue, if you’re planning out an ocean-going vessel which can theoretically see the roughest of storms and can suffer serious underwater trauma.”
The new ship has apparently been able to overcome any such shortcomings related to the shape so far. Still looks upright to me.
Along with his images, Kaufman told us the Zumwalt made berth in the U.S.S. Saratoga’s old parking spot and described its turn into the East Channel of Newport Harbor as “ghostly.”
“Without a reduction in speed, nor banking of the deck, or generation of a wake the ship didn’t so much as turn but pivot along its center...”
These images really give you a good sense of scale on the leviathan. According to the AP, the Zumwalt will soon be heading to Baltimore, Maryland for a formal commissioning and then on to San Diego, California which will be its home port.