Naval Sea Systems Command will decide if the third Zumwalt-class DDG-1000 will have a steel or composite deck house by the end of the year, NAVSEA officials told USNI News on Tuesday.
In a briefing at the Navy League Sea Air Space Exposition 2013 at National Harbor, Md. DDG-1000 program manager Jim Downey
“We’re always constantly focused on cost. The signal there should be the weight control on the program has gone very well. It allows us to do steel, if we choose to go down that path,” Downey said.
“That’s the only planned change on the program.”
The first two ships in the DDG-1000 program were designed with an 850-ton deckhouse made from composites at Huntington Ingalls Industries facility in Gulf Port, Mississippi.
In December, HII barged the deckhouse for Zumwalt to Bath, Maine for installation at General Dynamics Bath Iron Works.
The final decision on the deckhouse will come later this year, pending negotiations with HII, NAVSEA spokesman Chris Johnson told USNI News.
DDG-1000 is designed to be primarily a land-attack platform with a focus on naval surface fire support.
