Navy builds warship for gamers

The U.S. Navy has unveiled a new stealth destroyer which utilizes advanced automated systems to function with a minimum crew of 130, less than half of the 300 which are required for a traditional destroyer.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The USS Zumwalt is a massive $3 billion warship and the largest type of destroyer in the navy.

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The advanced technology used makes "it much easier and much more effective for the sailor to operate," says former Navy Captain Wade Knudson, now the Zumwalt program director for Pentagon contractor, Raytheon.

According to Knudson, the operations center is filled with a vast array of video displays that have been designed directly for a generation of sailors raised with video games. Raytheon tested these new technologies with sailors who were younger gamers.

"We've brought them down to our labs and we got direct feedback from them using human-factor engineers in order to make sure that we've integrated all the displays and information in a way that they can use the systems most effectively," he said.

This results in fewer chances of errors aboard the ship. "The system and the computer provide information to the sailor in a way that they're used to."

Work stations in the operations center are outfitted with three common displays, Knudson says. "You can sit down at any of the systems and operate them."

The Zumwalt is 610 feet long and 80 feet wide, 100 feet longer and 20 feet wider than ships in the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, the Navy's current destroyers.

Despite the size, the ship is surprisingly stealthy, built on angles that make it difficult to spot on radar.

"It has the radar cross-section of a fishing boat," said Naval Sea Systems Command spokesman Chris Johnson.

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