US Government Ship-Building Roundup

CVN 77: Men at work(click to view full) DID reader Lee Wahler points us to a pair of interesting articles. WorkBoat.com has a piece called “Boatyard Boom“: “Everything indicates that the shipyard industry is on the leading edge of a boom,” said Butch King, chief executive officer, VT Halter Marine, Pascagoula, Miss. “Day rates are up, the steel market has stabilized, and operators find themselves with a good opportunity to upgrade and add to their fleet… The U.S. government announced plans to add 33 naval vessels to their existing fleet,” King added. The U.S. Coast Guard Deepwater program “continues to build and the demand for littoral combat vessels is growing.” Note that commercial vessels are a sizable chunk of this activity. On the defense side of the ledger, however, MarineLog.com has an updated list of “Current Government Shipbuilding Contracts,” broken down by vessel type, anufacturer, and customer. Some points to keep in mind as you read: * “DDG” entries are all DDG-51 Arleigh Burke Class destroyers, the multi-prurpose mainstay of the US Navy. * LCS are “Littoral Combat Ships“. Each of the two competing team will produce two “Flight 0” ships. * T-AKE Class cargo ships. * The LPD ships […]