Admiral Elmo Zumwalt should be remembered as the "conscience of the United States Navy," which is how then-President Bill Clinton described the combat-decorated former Chief of Naval Operations in his January 2000 eulogy. Instead, more than a quarter century after his death, it is increasingly likely that Zumwalt will be remembered for the class of warships to bear his name.

Normally that would be a high honor for any U.S. Navy veteran, yet "Zumwalt" will likely be forever tied to a misguided destroyer program that Brandon J. Weichert, writing for The National Interest, suggested should have been revolutionary. "Instead, it is an evolutionary dead-end (an expensive one at that)," Weichert stated bluntly, adding, "Of all the government boondoggles, the United States Navy's Zumwalt-class destroyer might be the silliest waste of money ever."

Weichert isn't alone in stating the obvious; the U.S. Navy has thrown good money after bad into the program, trying to salvage its three expensive warships.

As previously reported, the problems of the Zumwalt class can be traced back to its origins. Designed as a new class of multi-mission stealth warships with a focus on land attacks, the sleek Zumwalt-class destroyers were meant to be able to take on secondary roles including surface and anti-aircraft warfare. The next-generation, multi-mission destroyers were developed with a state-of-the-art electric propulsion system, wave-piercing tumblehome hull, stealth design, and the latest war-fighting technology and weaponry.

Troubled Waters

Among the biggest issues—but far from the only one—was exactly how the warships could ever accomplish their primary mission of land attacks. As a new generation of warships, the Zumwalt class was designed to be fitted with two 155mm Advanced Gun Systems (AGS), which are capable of engaging targets with precision-guided shells at a range of up to 60 miles. In wartime, the destroyers could use such an ability to engage targets from close to shore to create a path for an amphibious landing.

That sounds good.

The problem is that the Long Range Land Attack Projectile, the precision-guided shell to be used in the AGS, ballooned in price from $50,000 to $800,000 for each round when the destroyer program was scaled back—making it simply too expensive to fire.

Various solutions were considered, but in the end, it was decided to turn the three completed Zumwalt-class vessels into hypersonic missile stealth destroyers. In theory, it probably seemed like a good idea—the Navy would take a vessel that already has been described as looking like something out of a science fiction video game and fit it with the most advanced missiles of the day. However, hypersonic missiles aren't a cheaper solution. If anything, they're likely to be even more expensive than the LRLAP. Sure, the hypersonic missiles can do significant damage, but experts have noted that most of the time the missiles will cost more than the targets they could destroy!

That makes the modifications of the three vessels a bad return on investment (ROI).

So Where is the Program?

According to a new report from USNI News, "the installation of the four missile tubes that will eventually carry the Conventional Prompt Strike weapon" has been completed on the lead vessel of the class, USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000). The aforementioned 155mm gun mount has been removed and replaced with the launcher tubes.

Work will be completed on DDG-1000 and testing of the hypersonic launchers will begin by the end of 2025. Yet, instead of waiting to see how the vessel and its new launchers perform, the U.S. Navy also announced that the USS Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG-1002), the third and final vessel of the Zumwalt class, has arrived at Huntington Ingalls Industries' Pascagoula Shipyard in Mississippi to be readied for the transformation.

"Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG 1002) will be the second ship of the class to receive the large missile vertical launch system and CPS. We've extended the combat system activation period by two years to accomplish this installation. The CPS work was placed on contract in August and we dry-docked the ship on Sunday in preparation for land-level production," Capt. Clint Lawler, program manager, Zumwalt-class Destroyer program office said during a Navy Sea Systems Command presentation at Surface Navy Association 2025, per Naval News.

The decision was made to complete the conversion of DDG-1002 before USS Michael Monsoor (DDG-1001) to keep the latter warship in service, but also to employ lessons learned during the refit of DDG-1000. As a result, DDG-1002 is now set to be commissioned in 2027, while the work on DDG-1001 will begin next year.

Whether this does "fix" the problem, it needs to be stated again, Admiral Zumwalt deserved better. His name shouldn't be forever tied to one of the U.S. Navy's costliest mistakes—one that continues to increase in cost.

Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].

Image: Wikimedia Commons.