USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000)

USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) is to be the lead ship of the Zumwalt class of guided missile destroyers and the first ship to be named for Admiral Elmo Zumwalt.

Name and hull number
Elmo Russell Zumwalt, Jr. (29 November 1920 – 2 January 2000) was an American naval officer and the youngest man to serve as Chief of Naval Operations. As an admiral and later the 19th Chief of Naval Operations, Zumwalt played a major role in U.S. military history, especially during the Vietnam War. A highly-decorated war veteran, Admiral Zumwalt reformed Naval personnel policies in an effort to improve enlisted life and ease racial tensions. After he retired from a 32-year Navy career, he launched an unsuccessful campaign for the United States Senate.

The hull classification symbol for the USS Zumwalt will be DDG-1000. In doing so, the U.S. Navy will eschew the guided missile destroyer sequence that goes up to DDG-118 (presently the last of the named Arleigh Burke-class destroyers), and continue in the previous "gun destroyer" sequence left off with the last of the Spruance-class, USS Hayler (DD-997). With the production run of the Zumwalt class limited to three units, plans are underway for a third "flight" of Arleigh-Burke class destroyers.

History
Many of the ship's features were originally developed under the DD21 program ("21st Century Destroyer"). In 2001, Congress cut the DD-21 program by half as part of the SC21 program; to save it, the acquisition program was renamed as DD(X) and heavily reworked. The initial funding allocation for DDG-1000 was included in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2007. A contract worth $1.4bn was awarded to General Dynamics on 14 February 2008, for the construction of USS Zumwalt at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine.

Full rate production officially began on 11 February 2009.

As of July 2008, the construction timetable was for General Dynamics to deliver the ship in April 2013, with March 2015 as the target for Zumwalt to meet her initial operating capability. However, by 2012, the planned completion and delivery of the vessel had slipped to Fiscal Year 2014.

The first section of the ship was laid down on the slipway at Bath Iron Works on 17 November 2011. By this point, fabrication of the ship was over 60% complete. The naming ceremony was planned for 19 October 2013, but was canceled due to the United States federal government shutdown of 2013.