Navy's $7.8 Billion Destroyer Due for Delivery 5 Years Late

Delay adds to questions about Navy’s plans for 355-ship fleet
Deck guns that cost $505 million are now in ‘inactive status’

AT SEA - DECEMBER 7: The future USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) is underway for the first time conducting at-sea tests and trials on the Kennebeck River December 7, 2016 in the Atlantic Ocean.The Zumwalt is the largest destroyer ever built for the U.S. Navy. (Photo by U.S. Navy/General Dynamics Bath Iron Works via Getty Images)Photographer: Handout/Getty Images North America

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By Anthony Capaccio

March 27, 2019 at 8:00 AM UTC

Updated on

March 27, 2019 at 7:35 PM UTC

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The first ship in the U.S. Navy’s $23 billion program to build a new class of destroyers is scheduled for a September delivery -- more than five years later than originally scheduled and 10 years after construction began on the stealthy vessels built by General Dynamics Corp.

Delivery plans for the Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyer have been a roller-coaster of changing milestones, most recently moved from May of this year to September, according to budget documents confirmed by a Navy spokeswoman. The ship isn’t expected to have an initial combat capability until September 2021, at least three years later than planned.