DD-21's Demise attributed to program risk.

• Author: Book, Elizabeth G.
• Position: Washington Pulse - Naval surface combatant program - Brief Article

The Navy had to kill the DD-21 surface combatant program, cause had too much risk, said Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vernon Clark. "The main issue with DD-21 was that there was so much new in that program ... So there was inherent risk in that approach," he told reporters. The other problem with DD-21 was that "it spoke to specifically one ship only.

"It became very clear to me that our needs were greater than one ship and that we needed a way to deal with what was perceived by some in the decision-making loop to be a very healthy...