Report: Three Injured in Fire Aboard USS Zumwalt
A fire aboard the first-in-class destroyer USS Zumwalt has injured three sailors, according to the U.S. Navy.
Zumwalt is currently at shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi to undergo modifications needed to launch the service's next-generation hypersonic missile. Launch tubes and equipment have replaced both of the Zumwalt's iconic deck guns, which were designed to deliver high velocity, high tech shore bombardment from a stealthy platform.
According to USNI and Naval Surface Forces, a fire was reported aboard Zumwalt at about 2145 hours. The crew managed to put it out, but three sailors were injured; two were treated at the scene, and the third was taken to the hospital. All are in stable condition.
An investigation into the circumstances of the blaze and the extent of the damage is under way.
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The U.S. Navy's futuristic Zumwalt-class destroyers have had an uneven history in service, and have deployed only rarely. Their unique deck guns have never been used: After the number of vessels in the class was cut back from 32 to three due to budget concerns, the manufacturing cost per round for their special ammunition rose to an impractical $800,000-$1 million per shot. The production run of ammunition was canceled, and the guns are functionally unusable.
Aboard USS Zumwalt, the deck guns have now been replaced with four launch tubes for the Conventional Prompt Strike hypersonic missile system, each built to carry an all-up round pack with three missiles. This high-powered arsenal adds to Zumwalt's 80 existing VLS cells. The modification will cost up to $2 billion to complete for all three vessels in the series.
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