# USS Zumwalt **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 23, 2016, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-zumwalt/772781 "2016-11-23T01:58:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-zumwalt/772781/21 "2016-11-23T14:20:45Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Would it help if you knew that the Captain’s name (really) is James A. Kirk? No, but I’m glad the effort to name it the USS Robert Heinlein failed. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-zumwalt/772781/22 "2016-11-23T14:28:42Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > Is there any particular reason why jobs created by congress have to be created for military purposes? Expanding rail service would create jobs and improve our nation. So would research into alternative energy or medical issues. They also would leave us with much more to show for it than a broken ship. What percentage of existing destroyers have even seen combat? > Companies like BIW need to diversify. Last time I checked, there were private industries that bought ships. The biggest news in this thread is that the OP returned. I guess there’s no class today, what with Thanksgiving break and all. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-zumwalt/772781/23 "2016-11-23T15:19:51Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > The biggest news in this thread is that the OP returned. I guess there’s no class today, what with Thanksgiving break and all. Wow! There really is a first for everything. Threads started by BK - 1800. Total posts by BK - 1801. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-zumwalt/772781/24 "2016-11-23T15:57:54Z")
I don’t know why Dopers need to ridicule OP: contrasting the waste on a boondoggle with money spent usefully is worthwhile, but seems to be beyond the ken of Congress. And it’s wrong to say the spending was OK because it went to American workers: are building bridges and breaking windows equally valuable if the same numbers of workers are employed? Twenty billion dollars may be chickenfeed compared with bigger Pentagon blunders but this one looks like it was knowably stupid from the get-go. The Navy already had a method of evading radar detection: _Submersion_. It’s too bad that students, unlike General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman, cannot afford million-dollar lobbyists. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-zumwalt/772781/25 "2016-11-23T16:01:35Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > What percentage of existing destroyers have even seen combat? Do you understand the concept of deterrence? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-zumwalt/772781/26 "2016-11-23T16:04:51Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Just 20 more upgrades to go! Wouldn’t that be 19? ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-zumwalt/772781/27 "2016-11-23T16:09:59Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > I don’t know why Dopers need to ridicule OP… Because he is rediculous. Had he posted “I like puppies” in the Pit, I’d fire off a few snarky comments about him as well. Just because. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-zumwalt/772781/28 "2016-11-23T16:23:55Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Would it help if you knew that the Captain’s name (really) is James A. Kirk? > [@Alessan](#): > > Just 20 more upgrades to go! Get Mr. Scott on the job. He’s a miracle worker. He’ll have the Zumwalt shipshape in no time. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-zumwalt/772781/29 "2016-11-23T17:02:54Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Maybe we should divert the OP’s financial aid to buying one of those projectiles. Or a tenth of one. Or just a big mound of expensive carbon rods that don’t do anything. I’m really just looking for something else to spend that money on. Seriously, anything. How about an _Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator_? > [@Ravenman](#): > > rediculous. Ridiculous. One of my many spelling pet peeves. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-zumwalt/772781/30 "2016-11-23T18:17:46Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > Ridiculous. One of my many spelling pet peeves. No, I mean he is diculous and he does it over and over again. Re-diculous. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-zumwalt/772781/31 "2016-11-23T19:14:13Z")
> [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](#): > > If that pisses you off, consider the fact that the navy [can’t afford to meaningfully arm it.](http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/at-800k-a-pop-new-u-s-navy-destroyer-s-ammo-is-in-question-1.3158737) That’s a little misleading. The ship has some 80 VLS cells, as well as the 155mm gun, which is still useful without the LRLAP rounds, as it can fire unguided artillery shells. As a matter of fact, only 10% of the ammo loadout was expected to be the guided LRLAP shells anyway. And I suspect the OP doesn’t get the idea of a sunk cost. That R&D has been done- you can’t get it back. So at this point, the government has the option of either continuing to produce more destroyers, which will push the per-ship price down, or cut their losses and only build a handful, at a much higher total cost, in part because the R&D cost is distributed across the ships. As for the mechanical failures, they seem to be, if not common, at least not unheard of during the initial phases of the first ships of a class. The Freedom class littoral combat ships are having propulsion teething pains as well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-zumwalt/772781.md?page=1)