America’s Stealth Destroyer Zumwalt vs. an Iowa-Class Battleship: Who Wins?

The USS Zumwalt is going to win this battle in almost any conceivable scenario. This is not surprising; Zumwalt will enter service over seventy years after Wisconsin. If we start the fight with different assumptions (without Zumwalt’s long range munitions, or without the Tomahawk Block IV), then things look rather better for the battleship, but the destroyer probably still inflicts serious damage and escapes. It is nevertheless remarkable to imagine that Wisconsin could possibly survive the fight, even in battered condition.

What would happen if the US Navy’s latest destroyer, the USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) fought against the Navy’s last battleship, the USS Wisconsin (BB-64)? Fireworks.

Let us not tarry on the question of how the 2020 edition of USS Zumwalt would encounter and engage the 1991 version of USS Wisconsin. We will assume that neither ship is receiving external support; although both were designed to operate as part of a system, each will fight this battle alone. We’ll also assume that each is operating in a configuration (including weapon load) optimized for ship-to-ship combat. Finally, we’ll assume that the technologies key to the DDG-1000 class are both functional and available.