Zumwalt-class destroyer on the Kennebec, likely not an ebb tide

I like this US 000 submarine, or what it is? No anchors, of course and five holes in the side. The structure above the wheel house is amazing with its US flag waving and radar antennas rotating. I assume it has no crew and and is fully automatic.

Um, no. That’s DDG1000, the USS Zumwalt proceeding to sea down the Kennebeck River from Bath Iron Works. I thought everyone in the maritime world knew what she was. You’ll probably find the Wiki article on her informative: USS Zumwalt - Wikipedia

1 Like

Swedish sarcasm at it’s best.
But I agree the USS Zumwalt is no joke. If it was it would probably be the worst joke in the wold. (And the most expensive)

Sort of looks like the Nautilus from “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen”.

2 Likes

I know about USS Zumwalt when it lost power on the trials, etc. years ago. Is the photo from then? With a tug pushing at the stern? Has it passed the trials or are they still testing?

I forget what the exact terminology for it is called but the US builds their new warships before the design phase is completely done. Its to start with the production phase as fast as possible to give people jobs. Leads to cost overruns as constant design repairs and problem solving is needed. Its like building a house without the plans then the plans come out and you need to do all these fixes to the construction of the house.

2 Likes

I was aboard when it was in San Francisco for Fleet Week a few years ago. Worst US Navy tour ever. I think they showed us sick bay and the forward anchor room. If I remember the rode is cable and it doesn’t carry enough to be useful in a pinch.

a subject here that can invite such a variety of comments … i think i’ll just move on !!!

Good idea. Don’t want you to get contaminated with any “Fake News” or"Alternative Facts".

that’s no “S” . it is so damn hard to get the numbers anymore… like the vid … when hospitals and individual doctors get credit and a few bucks for attribbuting a death to the vid, what the hell does that do to hard science ‘statistics’
but i digress:
re; contaminated with facts: I so thot 24 hr. news was what the world needed (cir. 1976) … jeez, what another dilenquit I was.

At this point in the transit the current is running out of Atkins bay. So at this point it is an ebb tide. We got underway at Bath 15 minutes before high water to allow me to go over sand bars just north of Doubling Pt.
As to anchor it is a submarine type, that is it came out from beneath the hull which meant you needed at least 47’ of water for it to safely clear the pipe.
In three sea trials we never lost power. An interesting event, our first night out and in the vicinity of Mt .Desert Rock Light at 0300 I was awoken and asked to come to the bridge. My first officer,Capt. Mark Klopp a Portland Harbor Pilot had been listening to a May Day call from the fishing vessel Danny Boy some 63 miles to the southwest of us. I had told the Coast Guard that we cold be there in two hours. Our offer was declined as they said they had it covered with a helo out of Cape Cod. For some reason I answered back that we would be there. At this point in the trials we had not done our four hour endurance run to test the engines. I called the engineers and laid out the story. We arrived on scene as the helo arrived. Stood off Three miles until the helo asked for help. Moved up to the Danny Boy, and opened our stern door and launched our rib down the launch and recovery ramp. They were quickly alongside Danny Boy, the Captain jumped into the rib and she was on her way back to us. I swung my stern towards the rib so she could see the boat bay opening. It was a good coarse for recovery and she quickly had DB’s Captain in our sick bay for examination by our Doctor. The helo hovered over our deck and sent the swimmer and a basket down to our helo deck. He and the patient were lifted off and taken to Portland.
The engines purred like kittens making the 63 mile run in two hours and five minutes.the patient had two stents I’m told and two months later Capt. Klopp walked across the dock to inquire about the Captain. The Danny Boy ties up across the slip from our two Pilot Vessels.
As to being dead in the water. In my 37 years as an outside contractor,30 as River Pilot and trials Captain, I’ve been dead in the water only twice. Falcon Champion, a product tanker, due to misalignment of controls for a test and a DDG 51 class that I believe was the first to be computer controlled. I was never made aware prior to trials that a computer was running the engines. I don’t think the engineers were fully aware as they were as mystified as every one including the wiz kids until one just said let’s reboot the computer. Let there be light.
The photo above I think was taken on our first transit in December which had turned out to be a beautiful day. The Jan trial was also in good weather but later in the day. The March trial, we came and went in snow. I retired three months later and Capt. Klopp took over from me as he had done at Portland Pilots.

11 Likes