SUPER-RIGGED DESTROYER CONSTRUCTION AT BIW

This is the Navy's new super-rigged Zumwalt destroyer being built at Bath Iron Works (BIW) in Maine. 

The Associated Press reported in June that “A super-stealthy destroyer that could underpin the U.S. Navy’s China strategy will be able to sneak up on coastlines virtually undetected and pound targets with electromagnetic ‘rail guns’ right out of a sci-fi movie.  (Using electric pulses, not chemical explosives, the ‘rail gun’ can shoot a 40-pound metal slug from New York to Philadelphia at up to 5,600 mph — more than seven times the speed of sound — with 32 times the force of a car traveling at 100 miles per hour.)" 

The new stealthy DDG-1000 being built by General Dynamics in Bath, Maine will cost between $4-7 billion each.  The Navy did not actually want the destroyer because it would eat up too much of their shipbuilding budget.  But the Obama administration, which was strongly supported in his run for president in 2008 by the Chicago-based Crown family (which are majority stockholders in General Dynamics), has insisted the ships be built.   

Previous versions of Navy destroyers, outfitted with ‘missile defense’ systems cost about  $1.5 billion each.

See military promo video about the warship below.