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The USS Zumwalt, the largest-ever destroyer built for the US Navy, has departed Bathroom Iron Works and is finally headed out to ocean for the first fourth dimension to begin testing afterward about seven years of construction, the Associated Printing reports. The US Navy isn't known for its speedy evolution cycles, and in this case it'due south particularly knuckle-grinding. The Zumwalt rose out of what was dubbed the SC-21 program, a research programme started way back in 1994 that led to the development of DD-21, the Destroyer for the 21st century.

Fifty-fifty given the long development time, the ship itself is a showcase of new military tech. The USS Zumwalt is a 14,600-ton design that'south 600 feet long. It has electric propulsion, a stealth design to minimize its radar signature, and new radar and sonar, the report said, all of which led to the seemingly inevitable production delays and growing price tag (now estimated at $4.4 billion). It also includes a tremendous 155mm rocket-powered projectile known as the Advanced Gun Arrangement.

Credit: US Navy

Credit: U.s. Navy

From the US armed forces's Fact File:

"Developed under the DD(X) destroyer plan, the Zumwalt-grade destroyer (DDG k) is the lead ship of a class of side by side-generation multi-mission surface combatants tailored for country attack and coastal dominance with capabilities that defeat electric current and projected threats. DDG thou will triple naval surface fires coverage as well as tripling capability confronting anti-ship cruise missiles. DDG 1000 has a l-fold radar cantankerous section reduction compared to current destroyers, improves strike group defence ten-fold and has ten times the operating surface area in shallow water regions against mines. For today's warfighter, DDG 1000 fills an immediate and disquisitional naval-warfare gap, coming together validated Marine Corps fire support requirements."

The new tests will make up one's mind if the vessel is sufficiently capable to join the Navy's fleet in active commission, ahead of the completion of two more ships in the same class. Another interesting factoid: The ship's commanding officer is named Captain James A. Kirk — and yes, it netted a letter of back up from William Shatner in April 2014. "We are absolutely fired upwardly to see Zumwalt get underway," Kirk (the one manning the ship) told the Associated Printing. "For the crew and all those involved in designing, building, and readying this fantastic ship, this is a huge milestone."

The design of the USS Zumwalt signaled a shift in strategy for the US Navy, and represents a generational jump in operational tech for modern warfare. Inside, the ship features enterprise-grade electronics, with IBM server blades running Red Hat Linux and buried deep within the ship, as our sis site Geek covered. They're water-cooled, shock- and vibration-resistant, and are designed to withstand electromagnetic pulses that could take out the electronics of existing warships.

Zumwalt Navy Ops Linux

The Zumwalt'southward Ops center. Credit: U.s.a. Navy

In the command heart is the ship'due south Common Display Organisation, which consists of a cluster of three-screen server workstations with Xeon processors and LynxOS-based virtual machines. The idea is to but grant crew members the necessary levels of access required for their roles in a stacked system of multiple networks running simultaneously.

Eric Wertheim, writer and editor of the U.S. Naval Institute'south "Guide to Gainsay Fleets of the World," told the AP the integration of then many new systems from the electric propulsion to the tumblehome hull design carries "some level of adventure." Plus, operational concerns, growing costs and armada makeup led the Navy to shrink the 32-send program to merely three ships, he said in the report, pregnant this class of destroyers could become "something of a applied science demonstration project."

Top photograph credit: Us Navy