The Navy accepted delivery of the future USS Michael Monsoor — the second of three Zumwaltclass destroyers built by Bath Iron Works — Tuesday.
Program Manager Capt. Kevin Smith said delivery of the vessel “marks the culmination of years of dedication and hard work from our Navy and industry team.”
Following delivery, Monsoor will head to its new homeport, San Diego, California, where it will be commissioned in January 2019. Once in San Diego, combat systems will be installed and tested.
San Diego is also the homeport of the USS Zumwalt, the first of the three Zumwalt-class destroyers, expected to become operational in 2020.
Smith said that many lessons learned from the construction of the USS Zumwalt were incorporated in Monsoor, the latter of which “will be a tremendous asset to the Navy.”
The third Zumwalt-class destroyer, the future USS Lyndon B. Johnson, is currently under construction at BIW.
The Zumwalt-class ships — all built in Bath — are highly advanced stealth destroyers employing a number of leading edge technologies, from their radar signature reducing design to an all-electric integrated power system.
They were intended to replace the Arleigh Burkeclass destroyers, which BIW has been building since the late 1980s.
Rising production costs have led the Navy to cut its orders from the original 32 planned Zumwalt-class ships to just three, and restarting the Arleigh Burke-class.
That reduction has greatly increased the costs for the remaining destroyers, while also leaving their role in the fleet up in the air. The Navy has also struggled to find affordable ammunition for the ships’ main guns, and some technologies that were envisioned for the Zumwaltclass, such as a railgun, have yet to materialize.
Monsoor is named for Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Monsoor, a U.S. Navy SEAL who was killed in combat in Iraq in 2006. Monsoor is said to have thrown himself on a live grenade, saving the lives of several comrades. For his bravery, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
nstrout@timesrecord.com
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