BATH, Maine — Two five-bladed propellers manufactured by Rolls-Royce and weighing nearly 60,000 pounds each were delivered recently to Bath Iron Works, marking the completion of the power and propulsion system for the USS Zumwalt, the Navy’s first DDG 1000 “stealth” destroyer.
The twin fixed-pitch propellers measure more than 18 feet in diameter and were cast and machined at the Rolls-Royce facility in Pascagoula, Mississippi, according to industry publication Seapower magazine.
“The delivery and installation of these highly engineered propellers is a real milestone in the build of this amazing ship, as the Navy will now be able to commence further systems testing, followed by sea trials in the near future,” Don Roussinos, Rolls-Royce president-Naval, told Seapower.
In addition to the nickel aluminium bronze propellers on the Zumwalt are two Rolls-Royce MT30 Main Turbine Generator Sets (MTGs) and two RR4500 Auxiliary Turbine Generator Sets (ATGs) that will provide a total of 78 megawatts for total ship power, MarineLink reported.
New technologies on the ship include a multifunction radar system designed to allow the ship to get closer to land without being detected, two advanced gun systems that fire Long-Range Land Attack Projectiles that can reach up to 63 nautical miles, an integrated undersea/anti-submarine warfare detection system and a vertical launching system.
The Zumwalt’s “multi-mission” capability — allowing it to engage in surface, shallow-water and air warfare — will be critical to the Navy in its heightened focus on Pacific, officials said.
BIW continues to build the second and third Zumwalts as well, the future USS Michael Monsoor, slated for delivery in December 2018, and the future USS Lyndon B. Johnson, which began in April 2012, a BIW spokesman said in May.
In March, Bloomberg estimated the cost of the three ships at $12.9 billion, or about $4.3 billion per ship. Concerns about cost caused the Navy to end the Zumwalt line after three ships — all built at Bath Iron Works — and resume construction of Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, which the Zumwalts were supposed to replace.