Looks Like the DDG-100 May Be More F$#@ed Up than Previously Found

Well, it looks like the sad saga of the DDG-1000 Zumwalt destroyers may become even sadder, as there are now doubts that the two ships purchased may never sail.

Noah Schactman cites a report from Defense News:

Issues have arisen in guaranteeing the seals between the composite construc­tion panels of the huge Zumwalt deckhouse... [where] all of the ship’s major sensors... are em­bedded in the structure, and all of the ship above the first super­structure level is contained...

[O]ne source familiar with the situation said the Navy is so wor­ried about the problem that it has been canvassing other manufac­turers of composite structures to see if an alternate production source could be found.

So will any Zumwalts be built?

... Sen. Susan Collins, R­-Maine, and a key supporter of the DDG-1000, told Defense News, “I still expect the Navy’s going to abandon the DDG-1000.”

It sure sounds to me like the ships cannot be built right now.


Background here.