BATH, Maine -- A group of 51 senior officers from 50 nations visited PCU Zumwalt (DDG 1000) to look closely at the newest, most technologically advanced ship in the world, Aug. 8.
As students of U.S. Naval War College's Naval Command College (NCC), the officers study together for a year in Newport, Rhode Island, where they inspect elements of national power, best practices in military management and the development of lasting military power, all while building lifelong relationships.
The 60-year-old program has a track record of successful graduates.
While already leaders in their own countries, historically, half of all alumni will promote to admiral, and one-third will end up as the head of their respective military services.
While studying in Newport, they build lifelong relationships with each other.
Cmdr. Keith Reams, deputy director of the NCC said, "We brought this class to Zumwalt to show the United States Navy's might at its finest."
Only three weeks into this year's curriculum, Reams noted that this venue is the first of more than 15 different cities the students will visit across the U.S.
"This will be a bonding experience, to see the finest ship in the fleet the first time out. As a benchmark on future visits, we've set the bar high!"
In addition to ship visits, NCC students are invited to study other aspects of U.S. culture.
"We provide the opportunity for the students to study the diversity and depth of America: lifestyle, politics, environment, academia. You name it. They take a hard look and we let them decide. We want students to draw their own conclusions and we respect those conclusions," said Reams.
He added that nearly all of the students have been in command of a ship in their own nations' navies.
"The perspectives and skills they have bring a heightened level of introspection which adds to the collaboration, and ultimately, the overall value of the course."
Many of this year's students looked at the improvements aboard Zumwalt and wished they'd had access to things like this at home."
Zumwalt, the first of a three-ship class, is currently in the final stages of certification, and is planning to depart the Bath Iron Works shipyard prior to commissioning, planned for Oct. 15 in Baltimore.
Zumwalt executive officer Capt. Scott Tait escorted the guests through the ship, while answering many detailed questions and describing the features, challenges and successes of the new ship class.
After the tour Tait said, "Our interaction with the NCC students was mutually beneficial. They are an incredibly intelligent, experienced and talented group of professional officers. Many of them have faced challenges in their own services similar to those we're overcoming here aboard Zumwalt. They were very open in sharing best practices and we gained several new ideas that are being implemented."
Zumwalt Quartermaster 1st Class Angel Jimenez, a Cuban American of Conyers, Georgia, reconnected with Peruvian navy Cmdr. Daniel Plasencia. They first met at UNITAS, the annual multinational maritime exercise, in 2004. Today, they rekindled their professional friendship, and spent time discussing past, present and future traditions and courtesies in naval signaling.
While Zumwalt does not resemble any ship in Peru's 8-frigate navy, and the United States' mission is divergent from his nation's needs, Plasencia said, "Zumwalt is such an impressive warship."
He added, "I'm sure [Zumwalt] will be able to overcome the new challenges of being a new class."
Plasencia described that the tour illustrated for him how a "developed country" can discover many levels of challenging issues in both warfighting and industrialization, collect best practices in addressing them over many years and combine the results on one ship.
At the conclusion of the tour, South African navy Cmdr. Tebogo Motsene said, "Your ship is beautiful!" He was impressed by the professionalism of both the leadership and the crew, the cleanliness of the ship and the effective blending of advanced systems.
"All of the technology is centralized. For me, it was spectacular. You blew my mind," said Motsene.
Upon departure, Plasencia said,"Nos Vemos en futuro, UNITAS con Zumwalt." Translated: See you on the rebound, hopefully at UNITAS."