Zumwalt most Technologically Advanced Warship ever built

The USS Zumwalt will be the most technologically advanced warship ever build, scheduled to be operational in mid-2016. Image credit: wikimedia.

The Zumwalt (DDG-1000) is a planned class of United States Navy destroyers, designed as multi-mission ships with a focus on land attack, a multi-role and designed for surface warfare, and anti-aircraft.

The class is designed to require a smaller crew and be less expensive to operate than comparable warships.

Image credit: wikimedia.

They take the place of battleships in filling the former congressional mandate for naval fire support, though the requirement was reduced to allow them to fill this role. The vessels’ appearance has been compared to that of the historic ironclad warship.

The class is planned to feature a low radar profile; an integrated power system, which can send electricity to the electric drive motors or weapons, which may some day include a railgun, automated fire-fighting systems and automated piping rupture isolation.
It will have a wave-piercing tumblehome hull form whose sides slope inward above the waterline. This will reduce the radar cross-section, returning much less energy than a more hard-angled hull form.

Image credit: wikimedia