A stealthy new Navy destroyer left a shipyard in Maine this week and is on its way to Baltimore where it will be commissioned as the USS Zumwalt as part of the city's fleet week celebrations.
The Navy calls the unusual looking ship — it is all angles to minimize its visibility to enemy radar — its most technologically advanced surface vessel.
Capt. James Kirk, the ship's commanding officer, wrote in a blog post that his crew has been training throughout the summer to get the ship ready for service in the fleet.
"For Zumwalt's crew, the call over the general announcing system, 'Underway, shift colors' signaled the end of more than three years of training across the country in classrooms, labs and on the ship as our Navy's next generation destroyer was being activated and tested," Kirk wrote. "It marks the beginning of the ship's life at-sea with Sailors at the helm."
The destroyer is named for Adm. Elmo R. "Bud" Zumwalt Jr., served as the top naval officer in the early 1970s and worked to modernize America's fleet.
The $4.4 billion new destroyer is the first of its class. It carries guns that can strike targets more than 100 miles away and needs a much smaller crew to operate than the current generation of destroyers.
The commissioning ceremony is scheduled for October 15 at the Port of Baltimore. From there the ship will head to San Diego, where it is to be based.
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