The risk of pursuing the perfect warship

The Zumwalt class is used as a counterfactual example of what Rickover's approach might have encouraged. A new vertical-launch system, new electronics, and a railgun that would not be ready on time were all placed inside one ambitious design. Any weak or late element could damage the result for the whole class. The warning concerns concentrated program risk rather than technological ambition itself. A navy still has to decide which capabilities must work on the first hull and which can wait for a later phase.