Day 15: Zumwalt to be nuclear equipped?

This is a message from Gangjeong village on Jeju Island, South Korea where the new Zumwalt destroyers will be porting.  They are built at Bath Iron Works in Maine and might soon be equipped with nuclear-tipped first-strike attack cruise missiles.

• A friend sent me an article this morning from Military.com entitled New Nuke Cruise Missile Could Go on Zumwalt-Class Destroyers: StratCom.  The article states:

The Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) includes a long-term plan that could put nuclear cruise missiles aboard the new Zumwalt class (DDG 1000) of stealthy Navy destroyers, according to the commander of U.S. Strategic Command.

Air Force Gen. John Hyten, StratCom chief, said the plan to develop a new, low-yield nuclear Sea-Launched Cruise Missile (SLCM, or "Slick-em") would not be limited to using ballistic submarines as the sole launch platform, as many assumed when the NPR was endorsed by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis earlier this month.

"It's important to know that the NPR, when it talks about the Sea-Launched Cruise Missile, does not say 'Submarine-Launched Cruise Missile,' " Hyten said in a Feb. 16 keynote address in Washington, D.C., at the National Defense University's Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction.

In response to questions, he said, "We want to look at a number of options -- everything from surface DDG 1000s into submarines, different types of submarines" for the SLCMs.

• Went back to BIW at shift change time this afternoon.  Not one worker taunted me - usually some young whipper snapper does but they were all subdued.  My legs are quite shaky now - standing there for an hour is a challenge.  In the morning I leave early for the state capital in Augusta where I will stand (along with some others) between the House and Senate chambers while they are in session.  Then at 1:00 pm the Taxation Committee meets again to discuss the bill.  We will be there for that meeting as well.  Thanks to all those who are fasting alongside of me and I deeply appreciate all the kind words of solidarity from friends and family.