B-29 Doc ...Vs USS Zumwalt DDG 1000
 

USS Zumwalt, DDG 1000 arrived in Newport yesterday. She tied up at the old Newport Naval Station piers. She's on her way to Baltimore to be commissioned on 15 October. She was built at the Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine.

From there she will proceed via the Panama Canal to her home port San Diego. This ship is the stealthiest surface ship in the world at this time. :)

There were many spectators at the pier. (At a distance) I talked to quite a few old veterans. It was like old home week. This ship, at 620 feet is bigger than some Light Cruisers of the past..this with a crew of ONLY 147.

As a comparison, CLG-4, USS Litttle Rock @ 610 feet (Early 60s) had over 1200 crew. NB

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST_gpsdTaZI

Worked on that project a few years ago. Awesome to see it finally in person instead of on paper! Pretty surreal when you stand next to some of the equipment and radars just how massive they are.

Bumped into two guys, one an engineer, the other an IT Hardware tech...both worked on this project for Raytheon in Portsmouth, RI.

They traveled to Bath.. off and on during construction.

Sunday
 

Still big crowds on "Burma Road"..over looking the Ship. Today: there were 5 active Marine Navigation Radars "going around" on the ship.... Including a retractable 40 foot radar mast on the bow. It almost looked like they were getting ready to get underway. BUT, the orange rubber "oil boom" around the ship was still in place.

Learned something new today. Enlisted crew members (E-4 +) have four person "Staterooms"... with a private head. :look: .......Not like MY Navy.:eek:

In the old days, Officers had two man "Staterooms". :) : NB

Definitely not your Navy (or my merchant marine). No more steam turbines, gas turbine generators and electric drive motors now. Wave piercing hull, stealth tech shape and a lot fewer crew. Time will tell, very pricey beast...

Monday
 

She's Gone...:look: NB

The Navy couldn't have picked a captain with a better name than Captain James Kirk for a ship thats as close to a starship as it gets.

We sailed by it in Newport this past weekend and it is quite an impressive machine.