The US navy is ready to take ownership of the Zumwalt, its largest and most technologically sophisticated destroyer.
Sailors’ uniforms and personal effects, supplies and spare parts are being moved aboard the 610-foot (186m) warship in anticipation of crew members taking on their new charge, said Capt James Kirk, the destroyer’s skipper.
The Zumwalt is the first new class of warship built at Bath Iron Works since the Arleigh Burke slid into the Kennebec river in 1989. The shipyard is expected to turn the destroyer over to the navy this week.
“We’ve overcome lots of obstacles to get to this point,” said electrician John Upham, of Litchfield. “I think everybody in the shipyard is proud of the work we’ve done.”