Bath Iron Works shifts focus to new-style warship

With the christening of last-in-a-series Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, shipbuilders at Maine's Bath Iron Works are turning more of their attention to construction of a larger, stealthier and more expensive warship that will be like no other built at the shipyard.

The shipyard is wrapping up the original production run of Burkes as it shifts production to three next-generation destroyers, the largest surface warships to be built in Bath.

Already under construction, the DDG-1000 Zumwalt features composite materials, electric-drive propulsion and an unconventional wave-piercing hull. Displacing about 14,500 tons, the ship is 50 percent larger than Burkes but, thanks to automated systems, will have half the crew.