Smaller yards to build newest Navy warship

BATH – With plans for 55 ships, the Littoral Combat Ship represents one of the biggest Navy programs in years.

But the shipyards that were chosen to build the first four ships are smaller than the “big six” yards that build most of the Navy’s largest warships: Maine’s Bath Iron Works, Mississippi’s Ingalls Shipbuilding, Virginia’s Newport News, Connecticut’s Electric Boat, Louisiana’s Avondale Industries and California’s National Steel and Shipbuilding Co.

The midtier shipyards that will build the LCS make smaller ships: Alabama’s Austal USA is the U.S. subsidiary of the Australian maker of fast ferries; Wisconsin’s Marinette Marine Corp. and Louisiana’s Bollinger Shipyards Inc. make a variety of ships including Coast Guard vessels, Navy auxiliary ships, dredges, barges and tugs.

The yards where the LCS prototypes are being built were able to respond quickly to the Navy’s needs, said Rear Adm. Charles Hamilton, the Navy’s program executive officer for ships, who manages the acquisition and modernization of non-nuclear ships.

While the big yards missed out, Hamilton suggested there will be enough other work to go around as the Navy seeks to boost the size of its fleet.

“I would say that each surface combatant shipyard is getting a fair amount of work and providing ships that serve the war-fighting needs of the sailors and Marine Corps,” Hamilton said in an interview from Washington, D.C.