BATH — After undergoing sea trials in December, the Zumwalt destroyer is expected to undergo builder’s trials in February, according to a report issued Monday.
Lt. Cmdr. Hayley Sims, a Navy spokeswoman, could not confirm the February trials Tuesday but noted the reasons were mostly weather-related.
“With the weather, we haven’t gotten confirmation,” she said.
Sims said a delivery date of April 2016 is anticipated for the destroyer, whose home port will be San Diego, Calif.
Efforts to reach Bath Iron Works spokesman Matt Wickenheiser were unsuccessful Tuesday.
In December, the Zumwalt departed Bath Iron Works for a series of trials that would demonstrate the ship’s major hull, mechanical and electrical systems.
“Primary risk reduction objectives were successfully met and, as with any trials, the Navy learned a great deal about ship performance during the more than 100 hours of extensive testing,” Sims said later in an email. “The ship is following a test-driven schedule and will get underway for additional trials and test events contingent upon the analysis of the initial and subsequent underway periods.”
Earlier in the fall, the destroyer had also undergone a series of “fast cruises” to test the crew and key systems in preparation for the December trials.
The vessel is the lead ship of the Zumwalt-class destroyer program. Two other destroyers are in the process of being built at the Bath shipyard. The Michael Monsoor is 84 percent complete and the Lyndon B. Johnson is 43 percent complete, Sims said.
The ship is named for Adm. Elmo “Bud” Russell Zumwalt Jr., who served in the U.S. Navy for 35 years, during which he served in three wars.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
