The first-in-class Zumwalt, the largest U.S. Navy destroyer ever built, is sits in dry dock at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, in this Oct. 8, 2013 file photo.BATH, Maine - The biggest destroyer built for the U.S. Navy is ready to go into the water.
The christening of a first-in-class warship bearing the name of the late Adm. Elmo "Bud" Zumwalt was canceled a week ago because of the government shutdown. But plans call for the ship to be moved to dry dock in Maine and floated without fanfare in the coming days.
The Zumwalt will remain at dockside for final outfitting.
It's the first new class of destroyer since the Arleigh Burke launched at Bath Iron Works in 1989.
The Navy once envisioned building more than 20 of the stealthy warships but reduced the number to three because of expense.
The Zumwalt will cost more than $3.5 billion. That's more than three times the cost of previous destroyers.