kwaigonegin
Colonel
There is also some marketing involved. Somebody or a bunch of somebodies be it military, manufacturers or civilian leadership or combination of all decided to call a certain class a certain designation and from there it became gospel.
Take Zumwalt as an example. The Zumwalt we see and know today was derived from the SC-21 initiative.. i.e Advance 21st century Surface Combatant program that came about almost 25 years ago.
It was an initiative to replace the Spruance, Kidd and later AB class as well as Ticos.
At that time no one knew the AB class would've ended up becoming so successful and evolved into multiple 'flights' and would later become the primary workhorse of the USN and as we now know will remain so past even mid century!!!
As such it was designated a destroyer because it was originally intended and classified to be one. The SC 21 program also had a CG(X) provision for an entirely new class of cruiser class sharing the same hull just as Tico shared the same hull as the Spruance class destroyers.
But as we all are aware oftentimes, reality often charts a very different path of it's own. Due mainly to budgetary constraints, change in world order, politics etc most of the initial program were never realized.
In a perfect world as envisioned by those who came up with the SC 21 program, the USN today would consists of dozens of Zumwalt-like destroyers and Zumwalt-like Cruisers CG(x)/arsenal ships having replaced ABs, Ticos but instead ABs are still very much alive and kickin, 2 Zumwalts realized, 1 more planned and with Ticos still sailing the high seas!
Take Zumwalt as an example. The Zumwalt we see and know today was derived from the SC-21 initiative.. i.e Advance 21st century Surface Combatant program that came about almost 25 years ago.
It was an initiative to replace the Spruance, Kidd and later AB class as well as Ticos.
At that time no one knew the AB class would've ended up becoming so successful and evolved into multiple 'flights' and would later become the primary workhorse of the USN and as we now know will remain so past even mid century!!!
As such it was designated a destroyer because it was originally intended and classified to be one. The SC 21 program also had a CG(X) provision for an entirely new class of cruiser class sharing the same hull just as Tico shared the same hull as the Spruance class destroyers.
But as we all are aware oftentimes, reality often charts a very different path of it's own. Due mainly to budgetary constraints, change in world order, politics etc most of the initial program were never realized.
In a perfect world as envisioned by those who came up with the SC 21 program, the USN today would consists of dozens of Zumwalt-like destroyers and Zumwalt-like Cruisers CG(x)/arsenal ships having replaced ABs, Ticos but instead ABs are still very much alive and kickin, 2 Zumwalts realized, 1 more planned and with Ticos still sailing the high seas!
Last edited:
