Destroyers Zumwalt: the greatest failure in the history of the US Navy?
Today, the United States has the most powerful and most capable naval forces in the world. Maybe the Chinese Navy will be able to compete with them in the future. However, taking into account engineering and technical difficulties and the huge costs of building aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines, real rivalry can be expected no earlier than the 2050s. This is assuming that the PRC will not face severe political and economic crises characteristic of authoritarian models of governance.
However, the American fleet and the "dark" sides. One of them is the newest Zamvolt destroyers. Separately, it should be said about the "childhood illnesses" of the ship. Light and not very. Recall that in December last year, USS Zumwalt was required to interrupt the tests and return to the shipyards located in Maine. The cause was called a ship breakdown. There have been malfunctions in equipment that protects sensitive electrical equipment from unwanted power fluctuations. And no later than last summer it became known that the second destroyer of the Zumwalt type - “Michael Monsur” - needed to replace one of the turbines due to the fact that during the acceptance tests of the ship its blades were damaged.
In general, such problems, with all the desire can not be called "critical" for the program. In one form or another, they accompany any model of new military equipment, and even more so - a revolutionary one. And the Zamvolt is a truly revolutionary ship. Sooner or later, the difficulties described above are likely to be resolved. However, the destroyer risks entering history fleet as a symbol of complete failure. And that's why.
1. Early program errors
Of course, political changes cannot be unambiguously attributed to the shortcomings of a particular type of military equipment. However, in our case, it was the strengthening of the US global role that had a decisive effect. Recall that the new destroyer appeared in the framework of the program SC-21 (Surface Combatant for the 21st century), which meant supplying the fleet of a number of surface ships- “invisible” new generation. This also included a promising cruiser CG (X), which was abandoned altogether. Most surprisingly, such a large-scale program appeared in 1994, after the Cold War. And conceived as an instrument of new policy. In simple terms, ideally, SC-21 should have been economical, but did not become it.
Now it's hard to believe, but first, the military wanted to get the 32 of the newest destroyer, making the Zumwalt one of the workhorses of the US Navy. Then this number was reduced to 24, then to seven, and finally to three units. That is, only three ships of the Zumvolt type are: the head ships are USS Zumwalt, USS Michael Monsoor and USS Lyndon B. Johnson. The latter was launched in the 2017 year.
At the same time, the United States spent about five billion dollars only on research and development work as of 2016, and the cost of the entire program was estimated at 2015 in the billion US dollars back in the distant 22 year. The price of one ship with such a small lot exceeded the fantastic four billion dollars: to put it mildly, a dubious result for such money. We will not analyze in detail the technical stuffing of the Zamvolta, however, it is clear that the three destroyers will not be able to fundamentally increase the combat potential of the US Navy. But to become a problem in operation - they can.
Thus, it is safe to say that the SC-21 program did not fit into the new American policy. Since at first the United States overestimated external threats, and then underestimated them. Perhaps it would appear now, when the Chinese began to dramatically strengthen their naval forces, the fate of the program would be different.
2. The concept of unobtrusive ships
One more time to remind about all the innovations of Zamvolt, perhaps, no. We only note that the concept is based on reduced observability. The specific shape of the body allows you to hide it from detection by radar stations. It is estimated that the destroyer has a means of stealth, reducing its effective dispersion area by about 50 times in comparison with other warships and ships of similar size.
It would seem - an enormous achievement. But. No ship can be regarded as a "superhero." This is not a lone fighter, but part of the naval component, which includes ships of various types. Perhaps the best example is a carrier strike group or AUG. It is known to include aircraft carriers (or aircraft carriers), cruisers, destroyers, nuclear submarines, frigates and other ships and vessels. The AUG of the US fleet, for example, may include one aircraft carrier, up to ten escort ships (cruisers, destroyers, frigates, submarines) and support vessels.
Imagine that the Americans really managed to make the most subtle cruiser and destroyer, as well as produce dozens of such ships. What's next? It would not have been possible to make an aircraft carrier strike group, in principle. This is a giant noisy “machine”, the main advantages of which are not unnoticeable, but tactical strike potential combined with a very powerful air defense. By the way, for now this is quite enough. And it will be enough, as already mentioned, until the appearance of several AUG in China.
At the same time, no one says that low-profile aircraft are not needed for deck aircraft. For them, this is perhaps just a key indicator: in the current conditions of the abrupt development of the capabilities of medium-range missiles of the air-to-air class and air defense missile systems. But this is a completely different conversation, which does not have a direct relationship to Zamvolt.
3. Poorly designed appearance destroyer
The above problems have forced Americans to "rush" from side to side: where to attach three very large and very expensive ships? Ground for launching cruise missiles? They have a destroyer, and indeed can be many - up to 80 pieces. But the US Navy does not have a shortage of tactical strike weapons carriers. Suffice it to say that each of the converted Ohio submarines can carry up to 154 cruise missiles.
In the autumn of 2018, it became known, the US Navy still found a task for the Zamvolta - the destruction of ships away from the coast. To do this, the US military intends to slightly change the range of weapons, including anti-ship versions of Tomahawk cruise missiles and SM-6 anti-aircraft missiles to protect against air attacks.
De facto, this means that the ship was simply not needed: it’s very difficult to imagine Zumwalt’s attacks on the naval formations of a potential enemy. Here you need to take into account the colossal potential of the deck aviation The United States, in which such a decision is likely to never be needed at all. Recall that the US military has already begun to receive AGM-158 LRASM anti-ship missiles: they will be used by both the navy and the air force.
At the same time there are very serious questions to the artillery installation. Last year, it became known that the US Navy would not buy new ammunition for the Zamvolt destroyers. The fact is that the cost of one LRLAP guided missile for its gun exceeded one million dollars: in other words, it came close to the price of a Tomahawk missile. I don't even want to remember about the railgun, which they wanted to arm the ship with: they had long since abandoned it.
Summarizing all the above, it cannot be excluded that the destroyers Zamvolt are waiting for the fate of the Virginia-class nuclear missile cruisers, which the Americans wrote off much earlier than the expected time limit.
However, the American fleet and the "dark" sides. One of them is the newest Zamvolt destroyers. Separately, it should be said about the "childhood illnesses" of the ship. Light and not very. Recall that in December last year, USS Zumwalt was required to interrupt the tests and return to the shipyards located in Maine. The cause was called a ship breakdown. There have been malfunctions in equipment that protects sensitive electrical equipment from unwanted power fluctuations. And no later than last summer it became known that the second destroyer of the Zumwalt type - “Michael Monsur” - needed to replace one of the turbines due to the fact that during the acceptance tests of the ship its blades were damaged.
In general, such problems, with all the desire can not be called "critical" for the program. In one form or another, they accompany any model of new military equipment, and even more so - a revolutionary one. And the Zamvolt is a truly revolutionary ship. Sooner or later, the difficulties described above are likely to be resolved. However, the destroyer risks entering history fleet as a symbol of complete failure. And that's why.
1. Early program errors
Of course, political changes cannot be unambiguously attributed to the shortcomings of a particular type of military equipment. However, in our case, it was the strengthening of the US global role that had a decisive effect. Recall that the new destroyer appeared in the framework of the program SC-21 (Surface Combatant for the 21st century), which meant supplying the fleet of a number of surface ships- “invisible” new generation. This also included a promising cruiser CG (X), which was abandoned altogether. Most surprisingly, such a large-scale program appeared in 1994, after the Cold War. And conceived as an instrument of new policy. In simple terms, ideally, SC-21 should have been economical, but did not become it.
Now it's hard to believe, but first, the military wanted to get the 32 of the newest destroyer, making the Zumwalt one of the workhorses of the US Navy. Then this number was reduced to 24, then to seven, and finally to three units. That is, only three ships of the Zumvolt type are: the head ships are USS Zumwalt, USS Michael Monsoor and USS Lyndon B. Johnson. The latter was launched in the 2017 year.
At the same time, the United States spent about five billion dollars only on research and development work as of 2016, and the cost of the entire program was estimated at 2015 in the billion US dollars back in the distant 22 year. The price of one ship with such a small lot exceeded the fantastic four billion dollars: to put it mildly, a dubious result for such money. We will not analyze in detail the technical stuffing of the Zamvolta, however, it is clear that the three destroyers will not be able to fundamentally increase the combat potential of the US Navy. But to become a problem in operation - they can.
Thus, it is safe to say that the SC-21 program did not fit into the new American policy. Since at first the United States overestimated external threats, and then underestimated them. Perhaps it would appear now, when the Chinese began to dramatically strengthen their naval forces, the fate of the program would be different.
2. The concept of unobtrusive ships
One more time to remind about all the innovations of Zamvolt, perhaps, no. We only note that the concept is based on reduced observability. The specific shape of the body allows you to hide it from detection by radar stations. It is estimated that the destroyer has a means of stealth, reducing its effective dispersion area by about 50 times in comparison with other warships and ships of similar size.
It would seem - an enormous achievement. But. No ship can be regarded as a "superhero." This is not a lone fighter, but part of the naval component, which includes ships of various types. Perhaps the best example is a carrier strike group or AUG. It is known to include aircraft carriers (or aircraft carriers), cruisers, destroyers, nuclear submarines, frigates and other ships and vessels. The AUG of the US fleet, for example, may include one aircraft carrier, up to ten escort ships (cruisers, destroyers, frigates, submarines) and support vessels.
Imagine that the Americans really managed to make the most subtle cruiser and destroyer, as well as produce dozens of such ships. What's next? It would not have been possible to make an aircraft carrier strike group, in principle. This is a giant noisy “machine”, the main advantages of which are not unnoticeable, but tactical strike potential combined with a very powerful air defense. By the way, for now this is quite enough. And it will be enough, as already mentioned, until the appearance of several AUG in China.
At the same time, no one says that low-profile aircraft are not needed for deck aircraft. For them, this is perhaps just a key indicator: in the current conditions of the abrupt development of the capabilities of medium-range missiles of the air-to-air class and air defense missile systems. But this is a completely different conversation, which does not have a direct relationship to Zamvolt.
3. Poorly designed appearance destroyer
The above problems have forced Americans to "rush" from side to side: where to attach three very large and very expensive ships? Ground for launching cruise missiles? They have a destroyer, and indeed can be many - up to 80 pieces. But the US Navy does not have a shortage of tactical strike weapons carriers. Suffice it to say that each of the converted Ohio submarines can carry up to 154 cruise missiles.
In the autumn of 2018, it became known, the US Navy still found a task for the Zamvolta - the destruction of ships away from the coast. To do this, the US military intends to slightly change the range of weapons, including anti-ship versions of Tomahawk cruise missiles and SM-6 anti-aircraft missiles to protect against air attacks.
De facto, this means that the ship was simply not needed: it’s very difficult to imagine Zumwalt’s attacks on the naval formations of a potential enemy. Here you need to take into account the colossal potential of the deck aviation The United States, in which such a decision is likely to never be needed at all. Recall that the US military has already begun to receive AGM-158 LRASM anti-ship missiles: they will be used by both the navy and the air force.
At the same time there are very serious questions to the artillery installation. Last year, it became known that the US Navy would not buy new ammunition for the Zamvolt destroyers. The fact is that the cost of one LRLAP guided missile for its gun exceeded one million dollars: in other words, it came close to the price of a Tomahawk missile. I don't even want to remember about the railgun, which they wanted to arm the ship with: they had long since abandoned it.
Summarizing all the above, it cannot be excluded that the destroyers Zamvolt are waiting for the fate of the Virginia-class nuclear missile cruisers, which the Americans wrote off much earlier than the expected time limit.
Information