From Billion-Dollar Meme to Hypersonic Sniper: USS Zumwalt's Revenge

SCiTech

For years, the USS Zumwalt was mocked as a costly failure—a ship with guns that couldn't fire. But that's the old story. The real story is the pivot. The Zumwalt's infamous guns have been replaced with four massive launch tubes, each capable of holding three Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) hypersonic rounds.   This transforms the 'ghost ship' from a surface combatant into a thousand-mile-plus hypersonic sniper.   Its radical stealth isn't a gimmick; it's a strategic weapon designed to create maximum uncertainty for any adversary, forcing them to question their own sensors.   Combined with its 78-megawatt power plant—enough to run future energy weapons—the Zumwalt is no longer a ship, but a future-proof upgrade path.   In this video, we break down why this "cost-overrun that grew teeth" is now one of the most feared platforms in the US Navy.

Transcript

00:00For a long time, naval power was all about size and firepower.

00:04Giant aircraft carriers and destroyers ruled the waves.

00:07But the nature of war at sea is changing.

00:10In an age of advanced satellites, long-range smart missiles and hypersensitive radar,

00:15being big and powerful also means you're a big and obvious target.

00:20Today's naval battlefield is a lethal, transparent place,

00:25where being detected can mean being destroyed in minutes.

00:28The U.S. Navy saw this coming.

00:30It needed a new kind of ship.

00:32One that could not only survive in these dangerous waters, but completely own them.

00:37It needed a vessel that could slip inside an enemy's defenses,

00:40handle any threats that came its way,

00:43and deliver a knockout punch without ever giving away its position.

00:46The answer was a ship that looked and acted like nothing that had ever come before it.

00:52And here it is.

00:53The USS Zumwalt, DDG-1000.

00:59The first time you see it, it genuinely looks like it's from the future.

01:02The Zumwalt's most noticeable feature is its strange, tumblehome hull,

01:07where the sides slope inward from the waterline.

01:09This sharp, angular design is the secret to its survival.

01:13Combined with a composite superstructure and other advanced materials,

01:17this shape scatters radar waves away from the source,

01:20making the ship incredibly hard to spot.

01:23The result is a stealth profile, unlike any other destroyer.

01:27While a typical destroyer shows up as a massive blip on enemy radar,

01:31the 610-foot-long Zumwalt has a radar cross-section so small

01:35that it is often compared to that of a small fishing boat.

01:39This lets it creep up on hostile coastlines,

01:42with a much lower risk of being caught,

01:45giving its captain a huge advantage.

01:47But hiding is only half the story.

01:49What makes this ship truly intimidating is what it can do

01:52when it decides it's time to stop hiding.

01:55At the heart of the Zumwalt is its game-changing integrated power system.

01:59This isn't a nuclear reactor, but rather a system powered by gas turbines,

02:04similar to what you'd find on a jet airliner.

02:06But these are incredibly powerful,

02:09generating a staggering 78 megawatts of electricity,

02:13enough to power a small city.

02:15This massive electrical grid does more than just push the ship through the water.

02:20It powers a vast network of sensors and computers,

02:23and most importantly, it future-proofs the entire vessel.

02:27This all-electric design was built to handle the energy-hungry weapons of tomorrow,

02:31like high-powered lasers and other directed energy systems,

02:34making the Zumwalt an adaptable platform for the next 50 years of naval tech.

02:40But let's be honest.

02:41The Zumwalt's journey has been anything but smooth.

02:45Its main weapons were supposed to be two massive 155mm advanced gun systems.

02:51These cannons were designed to fire a special, super-precise projectile.

02:55The problem?

02:57The cost of a single round skyrocketed to nearly a million dollars.

03:02The Navy had no choice but to cancel the ammunition,

03:06leaving the world's most advanced naval guns completely useless.

03:10For a while, the ship looked like a spectacular and expensive failure.

03:14But instead of giving up, the Navy pivoted,

03:17turning a major setback into a strategic opportunity.

03:20In a massive modernisation effort,

03:23engineers have been physically removing those useless gun systems.

03:27And their replacements are in the process of turning the Zumwalt

03:30into one of the most formidable weapon systems on the planet.

03:34In place of the guns, the USS Zumwalt is being refitted to carry launch tubes

03:40for the conventional prompt strike, or CPS, hypersonic missile system.

03:46These weapons represent the new peak of military technology.

03:51A hypersonic missile travels at over five times the speed of sound,

03:55but its real advantage is how it flies.

03:58Unlike a ballistic missile that follows a predictable arc,

04:01a hypersonic glide vehicle can make sharp turns

04:04and change its path inside the atmosphere,

04:07making it almost impossible to intercept.

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