[pedonbio]

I know there are a few old salts who like to talk ships. I'm not one of them, but the U.S.S. Zumwalt was recently launched and I had a sudden flash on The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen:

[solvegas]

Yes, she was to be the first of her class, DDG - 1000, and they planned to have at least 30 of them but cost was excessive and so only three will be built. She is a stealth destroyer which displaces over 13,000 tons. If you notice her superstructure there are no protruding masts, radars, funnels and so on and so forth. The angular shape of the hull and superstructure is supposed to make her less visible to radar. Alas, she is too costly like the B-1 bomber so the Navy is instead going to continue to build more Flight III Arleigh Burkes to replace the Reagan era Ticonderoga class cruisers. Funny how her bow looks like what warships had back in the 1890's.

[Zorro]

I know there are a few old salts who like to talk ships. I'm not one of them, but the U.S.S. Zumwalt was recently launched and I had a sudden flash on The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen:

That movie was just on the TV yesterday here in Hampton, VA and that is what I feel it looked like as well.

I'm an old salt and the only ships I served on were aircraft carriers.

The USS Midway CV-41 was the first one.

[pedonbio]

A model of Nautilus from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen:

[prinz]

13,000 ton Destroyers... She is the size of a WW2 Heavy Cruiser! look how small the harbor tug is next to her... The protrusion sticking straight up is one of her automatic 8in guns. She carries two of these with a rocket assisted range of 100 miles on the shells..  This class was supposed to replace the Battleship surface action groups in the shore bombardment roll..    I heard somewhere she has the radar cross section of a small fishing vessel.  Her first Capt name is ..... James Kirk....really!

[Tugboatcap]

...look how small the harbor tug is next to her...

I wouldn't call that a proper harbor tug.  That's only about a 28' to 32' "Tug" at most.  A real harbor tug is 3 times that size...

Just sayin'

TugboatCap!

[prinz]

I wouldn't call that a proper harbor tug.  That's only about a 28' to 32' "Tug" at most.  A real harbor tug is 3 times that size...

Just sayin'

TugboatCap! thanks for that.. I look at lt again and it does look like a little guy.. They must use it to get her out of the drydock.. Still 13,000 tons is one big ass Destroyer!

[solvegas]

Most large ships now have bow thrusters which allow for some low speed maneuvering in port which greatly simplify port operations and allows for smaller tugs, therefore more economical, to be used. Of course, some ships are so large, like Aircraft Carriers or the newest cruise ships, that you still need some big muscle to do the job. And then you have the truly gigantic monsters that are not allowed in ports due to their size like the ULCC ( Ultra Large Crude Carriers ) which in some cases can carry up to 3 million barrels of oil  , are 1500 feet long ( 400 feet longer than a Nimitz class super carrier ), and need open ocean tugs to tie them up to the offshore terminals to off load their cargo. Some are so large they shut their engines off up to 50 miles from the terminal and their sheer size and inertia carry them forth. Awe inspiring engineering.