BATH
U.S. Navy and Bath Iron Works officials will confer with the family of Elmo Zumwalt to identify a new time to christen the biggest and most expensive destroyer ever built.
Owing to the government shutdown, the U.S. Navy last Thursday postponed the official ceremony of the USS Zumwalt DDG 1000, scheduled for Oct. 19 in Bath.
Bath Iron Works will still launch the Zumwalt into Maine’s Kennebec River as scheduled on Oct. 19.
But as for a ceremony, “everything is pointing toward spring,” BIW spokesman Jim DeMartini said Monday.
“The Secretary of the Navy office takes the lead on these matters, and they’ll talk with the family and Navy brass,” he said. “There’s just a lot of input required from high-level people in D.C.”
DeMartini said U.S. Navy Capt. Jim Downey will be in Bath this week, for a number of purposes. During his visit, Downey also will be involved in preliminary discussions regarding the date for a new ceremony, DeMartini said.
The Zumwalt is named in honor of Admiral Elmo Russell “Bud” Zumwalt Jr.
Zumwalt, who also served as the 19th chief of Naval Operations, played a major role in U.S. military history, especially during the Vietnam War.
Zumwalt’s daughters, Ann Zumwalt and Mouzetta Zumwalt-Weathers, were the sponsors of the ship and had been scheduled to christen the new destroyer. They will be an integral part of the revised arrangements, DeMartini said.
“We’ve sent out more than 4,000 invitations,” DeMartini said.
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said last week that the postponement was unfortunate.
“It is incredibly unfortunate that we are being forced to cancel the christening ceremony for this great warship,” Mabus said in a statement. “But the ongoing government shutdown prevents us from being able to honor Adm. Zumwalt’s memory with a ceremony befitting his and his family’s legacy of service to our nation and our Navy.”
The Zumwalt will be the first in what is now a small class of new and stealthy destroyers. The Navy originally wanted to build 32 of the destroyers but that number was reduced to 24, then to seven, and now to three, because of runaway costs and problems with the radardeflecting design of the hull.
Despite the shutdown, another contract to complete work on the Zumwalt went ahead: BIW announced that the Navy had awarded the shipyard a $13.3 million contract to complete work on the deckhouse of the Zumwalt.
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