The U.S. Navy on October 11 announced that the christening of the future USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) originally scheduled for Oct. 19 has been cancelled and postponed until a future date, the contractor GD's Bath Iron Works said.
"It is incredibly unfortunate that we are being forced to cancel the christening ceremony for this great warship," Navy.mil reports quoting Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus as saying. He said the ceremony was canceled due to the ongoing government shutdown.
The future USS Zumwalt is a first of class ship for the Navy's next generation destroyer. Zumwalt class ships are tailored for sustained operations in the littorals and land attack, and will provide independent forward presence and deterrence, support special operations forces, and operate as an integral part of joint and combined expeditionary forces.
The Zumwalt honors Navy Adm. Elmo R. "Bud" Zumwalt Jr., who became the 19th Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) in 1970, and passed away in Durham, N.C., Jan. 2, 2000.
The Navy is in coordination with the Zumwalt family and General Dynamics - Bath Iron Works to reschedule the christening ceremony.
Part of General Dynamics' Marine Systems' Bath Iron Works is a full service shipyard specializing in the design, building and support of complex surface combatants for the U.S. Navy. BIW is the lead designer and builder of the Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) class of AEGIS destroyers and the multi-mission DDG-1000 Zumwalt-class destroyer.