Sen. Susan Collins met Friday with President Bush’s candidate for Navy secretary, telling Donald Winter that Hurricane Katrina’s destruction underscored the importance of having two shipyards building destroyers for the Navy.

Katrina knocked Northrop Grumman’s Ingalls shipyard in Mississippi out of commission, demonstrating the need for having two shipyards capable of building destroyers in the event of a natural disaster or terrorist attack, said Collins.

Collins, R-Maine, said she invited Winter, a former executive at Northrop Grumman’s missile division, to visit both the Bath Iron Works shipyard, owned by General Dynamics, and the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard submarine repair yard in Kittery.

Congress has stymied the Navy’s proposal for a winner-take-all contract for the next-generation DD-X stealth destroyer. Critics say the proposal could have the effect of driving either Bath Iron Works or Ingalls out of business.