Initially, the USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) was recognized as a futuristic vessel that could change the game in naval warfare—a destroyer with a striking, slanting profile packed with over-the-top technology and two giant 155mm Advanced Gun Systems (AGS) ready to blast targets in the middle of the continent. The Navy’s idea was spectacular: a fleet of 32 Zumwalt-class ships, firing off the seas with no rival. But the truth was a lot more intricate, though. Problems with costs, technology, and changing strategies reduced the Navy’s ambition from 32 to three ships. What remained was a $22 billion monument to both the brilliance of technology and the folly of pride.
The center of the original plan was the AGS. It was designed to shoot Long Range Land Attack Projectiles (LRLAP) with unprecedented precision, descending GPS-guided shells nearly vertically onto targets. The idea was good, but every shot cost an astonishing $800,000 per round—far too much for everyday fighting. When the focus of the Navy returned to open-ocean warfare and not close-to-shore attacks, the AGS became obsolete. Even cutting-edge concepts such as railguns, once connected to Zumwalt’s huge power source, became discarded, with much of the ship’s initial potential left unrealized.
The real makeover came later in the form of hypersonic missiles. The Navy opted to upgrade Zumwalt with the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) missile, a shot that can travel more than five times faster than sound and reach as far as 1,725 miles. This was no trivial reworking—it took some serious work. For a year, the ship was dry-docked in Mississippi for a lengthy refit during which it was overhauled to redefine its mission.
The two AGS turrets were dismounted. The front area was reconstructed to accommodate CPS launch canisters, while the back area remained open for future modifications. Nowadays, Zumwalt has four canisters on each side with three CPS missiles each, totaling twelve hypersonic missiles poised to be fired.
This change was more than exchanging guns for guns. It was a new generation of naval warfare. Hypersonic missiles can outgun defenses with pure velocity, striking critical infrastructure—land sites, air defenses, even ships—before they can defend themselves. They have already been successfully tested, and future models might be able to make mid-flight course corrections and strike moving targets. Speed and accuracy aren’t luxuries in contemporary warfare; they’re necessities.
Zumwalt has more than missile prowess. Her Integrated Power System (IPS), powered by two Rolls-Royce MT30 gas turbines, produces 78 megawatts of electricity. Even while cruising at 20 knots, 58 megawatts go untapped—enough to light up about 10,000 homes. That level of excess energy makes Zumwalt a natural proving ground for next-generation directed-energy weapons and high-end sensor suites.
Her appearance also continues to be dramatic. The tumblehome hull and composite deckhouse wave-piercing reduce radar visibility, although changes over the years have modified her precise signature. After initial criticisms, Zumwalt remains an effective warship. She has 80 Peripheral Vertical Launch System (PVLS) cells to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles, Standard Missiles, Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles, and anti-submarine rockets.
Sailing with a core staff of only 147 sailors and an additional 28 Marines, she shows the Navy’s emphasis on efficiency and the use of smaller, specialized groups. The SPY-3 radar is one of the advanced systems providing her with robust tracking and surveillance capability even in heavy environments.
The hypersonic upgrade provides the ship with a new mission. The CPS missile also shares its Common Glide Body with the Army’s Long Range Hypersonic Weapon, saving money and providing for compatibility throughout the services. To Navy commanders, having CPS available on the sea is a priority now, and Zumwalt is in the middle of it.
Nevertheless, the Zumwalt saga is a cautionary tale as much as it is a tale of ambition. Leading-edge technologies yield breakthroughs but also slippage, overruns, and hard choices. And despite its travails, Zumwalt beams with impressive accomplishments: massive power generation, revolutionary stealth, and, now, hypersonic strike capability. Designs for the future DDG(X) destroyers will draw on both Zumwalt and the battle-tested Arleigh Burke class, combining lessons from risk and reliability.
As the vessel keeps developing, her destiny is open to argument. Will she be the trailblazing platform that finally takes hypersonic weapons fully to sea, or will she go down in history as an expensive gamble? Only time, technology, and the requirements of tomorrow’s naval warfare will tell. For the time being, Zumwalt is a bold assertion of innovation at sea—a vessel which endured growing pains to become the Navy’s most radical and cutting-edge hypersonic warship.