The Navy has decided to power many of its future warships by electricity-a policy decision that enthusiasts consider as revolutionary for the fleet as its move from sail to steam.
Navy leaders planned to inform key members of Congress about the decision Wednesday and stage an elaborate news conference at the Pentagon Thursday, National Journal News Service has learned.
The first warships to be powered by electricity will be the next generation of land attack destroyers, the DD-21 class, scheduled to go to sea around 2008. The 32 DD-21 destroyers and larger guided missile cruisers derived from their design all are expected to be electric powered. The queens of the fleet-aircraft carriers-will continue to use nuclear propulsion.
The Navy went through an intensive debate and series of studies before Navy Secretary Richard Danzig decided a few days ago that electric power offered too many advantages for the fleet of the 21st century to pass up.
Advantages include extensive automation that would require fewer sailors to run a 21st century destroyer or cruiser, and the opportunity to locate power plants wherever they would be least vulnerable to attack.
Also, the possibility looms that the ship's electricity could be harnessed to shoot projectiles long distances, eliminating the need for gunpowder.
Using electric motors rather than steam or gas driven turbines to turn the propeller shaft of a ship is not an untested technology. Many commercial cruise ships and British warships already are driven by electricity.
But traditions die hard in the Navy, so its leaders approached the revolutionary change with caution. Bath Iron Works of Maine, the home state of Defense Secretary Cohen, and Ingalls Shipbuilding of Mississippi, the home state of Senate Majority Leader Lott, are competing to build the hulls of the DD-21. Both designs allow for the destroyers to be powered by electricity. A contract to build 30-plus DD-21 destroyers to be armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles and conventional armament would be worth about $25 billion.
Given the advantages of the proven electric power technology-particularly easing the Navy's difficulty in recruiting and holding skilled sailors-and the fact that no major U.S. contractor appears to oppose the switchover, legislators are expected to support Danzig's decision. The switch to electric power will be portrayed by Danzig and others as proof the Navy is serious about modernizing itself for the new and different challenges of the 21st century. Danzig and Rear Adm. Joseph Carnevale, program director for the DD-21 class of ship, are expected to unveil the electric drive decision against a backdrop of charts in the Pentagon briefing room.
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