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Delivery of Stealthy Destroyer to Navy to be Delayed

BATH, Maine — The complexity of the stealthy Zumwalt destroyer will delay delivery of the first two ships.

The Navy says delivery of the Zumwalt, originally set for this summer, has been pushed back to November, and delivery of the second ship in the class is being pushed back a few months next year. A third ship is on schedule for December 2018.

The warships are under construction at General Dynamics' Bath Iron Works in Maine.

Cmdr. Thurraya Kent, a Navy spokeswoman, says the Zumwalt is 94 percent complete, but the complexity of the engineering and propulsion systems has required extended time for tests and activation.

The Zumwalt, which can produce 78 megawatts, is the first electric-drive surface combatant built for the Navy since a line of destroyer escorts in the 1940s.