The U.S. Navy commissioned the stealthy, futuristic-looking battleship the USS Zumwalt on Saturday, a powerful new vessel that the Navy calls its “most technologically advanced warship.”
(FOX)- The ship is 610 feet long, weighs almost 15,000 tons, and cost a minimum of $4.4 billion, according to the Associated Press. Its distinctive, smooth appearance minimizes its radar signature.
“This ship is an example of a larger initiative to increase operational stability and give the U.S. a strategic advantage,” Ray Mabus, the secretary of the Navy, said in a statement. “Our Navy and our Marine Corps, uniquely, provide presence — around the globe, around the clock — ensuring stability, reassuring allies, deterring adversaries, and providing the nation’s leaders with options in times of crisis.”
The highly-automated destroyer needs a crew of only 147 people, and the Associated Press reports that it will carry a variety of weapons, like cruise missiles and anti-submarine rockets.
The Navy is proud of the ship’s integrated power system, which it said can produce about 78 megawatts of power, approaching the capacity of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. According to the Navy, the Zumwalt’s power system is robust enough to power its own systems “and still generate enough electricity to power a small town.”
The ship is named for Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr, who served in the Navy for more than three decades and died in 2000.
(Photo Credit: U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class George M. Bell/Released; via Fox News)