WPRO News & The Associated Press
The U.S. Navy’s futuristic Zumwalt destroyer has arrived in Rhode Island for its first port visit since leaving the shipyard to join the fleet.
The stealthy destroyer arrived at Naval Station Newport on Thursday.
It was built at Bath Iron Works in Maine and left there Wednesday. It’s headed to its commissioning in Baltimore, then to its homeport in San Diego.
The 610-foot-long warship features an angular shape to minimize its radar signature, a powerful new gun system and a composite deckhouse that hides its radar and sensors.
It’s the largest and most expensive destroyer built for the Navy, with a price tag of more than $4.4 billion.
“This is an important part of our economy, and it translates into something that is important for our national security,” said Senator Jack Reed (D-RI).
Reed, ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Friday congratulated workers at Portsmouth-based Raytheon Company, which developed control systems for Zumwalt, utilizing more than 50 Rhode Island subcontractors.
The naval station says there will be no public tours while the ship is in Rhode Island for the four-day port visit.
Zumwalt is named for former Chief of Operations Elmo R. Zumwalt and is the first in a three-ship class of the Navy’s newest, most technologically advanced multi-mission guided-missile destroyers.
