The largest destroyer of the naval forces of the United States of America went to sea for testing. Accompanied by several tugboats, a seemingly warship left the Bath Iron Works shipyard, sailing down the Kennebec River to the Atlantic Ocean.
About 4.5 billion dollars were spent on the project of the 185-meter destroyer Zumwalt with a displacement of 15 thousand tons. The ship received its name in honor of Admiral Elmo Russell Zumvalt, the head of many naval operations of the United States of America.
"The only one in its class. Such projects never existed. Ship from the future," - expressed themselves in the Bath Iron Works.
At the moment, are engaged in the refinement and testing of various parameters of the ship. The new destroyer, in the case of successful tests, will go into service with the American military in the very near future. The ship uses electric traction, it is equipped with the latest radar and sonar, as well as powerful weapons. Its design features allow you to go unnoticed for enemy radar installations.
Experts suggest that the new version of the ship's hull will significantly reduce the stability of the ship, although it prevents the detection of the ship. But the military are confident in this development and plan to build three more similar ships.
The history of the appearance of destroyers
Ships that were armed with torpedo weapons began to appear in 1874, and the active development of this area began during the Russian-Turkish war. Great Britain made a breakthrough by building the destroyer Lightning. He could reach speeds of 18 knots. In Russia in the same year saw the light of the destroyer "Explosion". In 1879, on the order of the British government, mass production of destroyers was launched on the basis of the Lightning ship.
Then there was a need for the production of a new class of destroyers, from this name and it turned out a reduction destroyer. They were created to destroy destroyers and other small torpedo ships, although single-handedly were rather weak against large warships.
