The new laser pointer and railgun weapons of the US Navy are a bunch of "Buck Rogers" pretends. Or will it be the next big thing? Just to summarize all other answers. The class is an ideal platform for railguns or lasers (or both). She is an electrically driven boat. It mainly generates 78 MW from two MT30 gas turbines. These are based on the same engines that power the Boeing 777. It takes about 25 MW to fire a 32MJ projectile at a rate of 10 per minute. The laser pointer can easily provide this function.
At present, the "Zumwalt" class missile magazine can hold about 900 155 mm projectiles (about 100 of which are LRLAP, 7 feet long). The projectile of the railgun will be much smaller. So more can be stored. On June 22, 2015, the projectile with onboard electronics survived the entire orbital launch environment, and was carried out four times at the U.S. Army’s test range in Utah on June 9th and June 10th. Continuous testing, thus exerting the expected function. Doubt in the relatively near future. Critics of the "expensive" Zumwalt class will soon praise the Navy's vision for developing the ideal electric gun and laser pointer platform.