Hull-aballoo: New Navy destroyer's seaworthiness questioned

BATH, Maine (AP) — The largest destroyer built for the U.S. Navy cuts an imposing figure: massive, with an angular shape, hidden weapons and antennas, and electric-drive propulsion.

The Navy will soon learn how this modern take on the "tumblehome" hull holds up when the first-in-class Zumwalt heads out to sea in December for builder trials in the rough-and-tumble North Atlantic.

Amy Lent, of the Maine Maritime Museum, which works closely with the shipyard, said taxpayers needn't worry because the Navy and shipbuilder Bath Iron Works have "tested the hell out of it."

Concerns have been voiced in the ship-design and shipbuilding communities about the warship's overall stability — and any instability could be exacerbated if there's battle damage, said Matthew Werner, dean at the Webb Institute, which teaches naval architecture and marine engineering in Glen Cove, New York.

Norman Polmar, a naval historian, analyst and author who is sometimes critical of the Navy's decisions, said he has no qualms about the Zumwalt's seaworthiness after a large-scale model was built to prove the concept.

The Navy has built a modern version of the tumblehome that utilizes computers to aid in stability, much like the Air Force used computers to transform a flying wing — the B-2 bomber — into a stable aircraft.