Navy won't build more of expensive destroyer after 2 built

David Sharp • The Associated Press • July 23, 2008 PORTLAND, MAINE — The Navy has decided to scrap its newest destroyer after the first two are built in shipyards in Maine and Mississippi, Sen. Susan Collins said Tuesday. Collins, R-Maine, said Navy Secretary Donald Winter called her to alert her of the outcome of a meeting of top brass regarding the future of the DDG-1000 Zumwalt destroyer. Critics say the stealthy Zumwalt is too expensive for the Navy to achieve its goal of a 313-ship fleet. But it's an important program in terms of maintaining the workload at Bath Iron Works. The Maine shipyard, a General Dynamics subsidiary, is building the lead ship, and Northrop Grumman's Ingalls shipyard in Mississippi is building the second ship. The Navy had been engaging in an internal debate over whether to build more of the... [read full story]