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Less than a week into its maiden voyage, the USS Zumwalt, the U.S. Navy’s largest and most advanced stealth destroyer, completed its first unplanned rescue mission on Dec. 12. The 610-foot, all-electric ship, which carries multiple GE technologies, rescued a Maine fishing boat captain who suffered chest pains some 40 miles southeast of Portland. “Thank you to all who helped save my life,” Portland Press Herald quoted the captain, Dale Sparrow. “That was me who got rescued by the new stealth destroyer.”
The Zumwalt itself is a heart-stopping sight. Named after the late Admiral Elmo “Bud” Zumwalt Jr., the ship is the Navy’s most advanced multi-mission destroyer. The Navy estimates the 15,600-ton vessel can hit a target at a range of more than 60 miles. The destroyer, which was built at the General Dynamics Bath Iron Works in Maine, also has a wave-piercing tumblehome design and unique superstructure that make it less visible to enemy radar at sea.
The ship is equally innovative below deck. Traditionally, the U.S. Navy powered its vessels with gas turbines driving controllable pitch propellers through large and complex gearboxes. But the new destroyer has on board a 78-megawatt power station supplying electricity to an advanced integrated power system (IPS). This “innovative and highly survivable” system was designed by GE Marine. It powers giant GE induction motors connected directly to the propeller shafts and routes electricity to a vast array of sensors, weapons, radar and other critical systems on board. GE said it could free up as much as 80 percent of the ship’s power that used to be dedicated to propulsion by getting rid of the gearbox. The captain can now send it wherever it’s needed.
As a result, the ship will have nearly 10 times more available power than its predecessors. In fact, the Zumwalt could become the first ship carrying next-generation weapons like electromagnetic railguns, which use a strong electromagnetic pulse, rather than gunpowder, to shoot projectiles. “We’re no longer restricting the engines to provide propulsion power only,” Adam Kabulski, director for naval accounts at GE Power Conversion, told GE Reports. “This design allows you to send electric power wherever you need it. You can access many megawatts in a short amount of time and convert it into energy. It’s instantaneous.”
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The future USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) is underway for the first time conducting at-sea tests and trials in the Atlantic Ocean. The multi-mission ship will provide independent forward presence and deterrence, support special operations forces, and operate as an integral part of joint and combined expeditionary forces. U.S. Navy photo courtesy of General Dynamics Bath Iron Works
The system is also highly redundant. Instead of the typical three-phase motors, the Zumwalt’s advanced induction motors have 15 phases. Kabulski said that by simply reversing the direction of the rotating magnetic field in the motor, for example, the shaft can turn in the opposite direction to give astern power. “The design is innovative, being smaller and quieter than traditional motors, and also highly survivable,” he said.
GE has been supplying electric propulsion technology to the shipping industry for a century. The Navy’s first electrically propelled ship, the aircraft carrier USS Jupiter, was commissioned in 1913.
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The future USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) is powering along the Kennebec River in Maine. U.S. Navy photo courtesy of General Dynamics Bath Iron Works
GE Marine technology is also operating on board the USS Makin Island, the Navy’s first hybrid-propelled ship. Similar technology also runs inside the Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyer-class ships and numerous offshore, passenger and cruise vessels, including the Queen Mary 2.
The destroyer is currently going through sea trials in the Atlantic Ocean. The Navy said the “ship [would] provide independent forward presence and deterrence, support special operation forces, and operate as an integral part of joint and combined expeditionary forces.”
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The future USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) is powering along the Kennebec River in Maine. U.S. Navy photo