Photo courtesy of USNI News. Article below posted from author Sam LaGrone of USNI News following his visit to Ingalls Shipbuilding Aug 4. 2022.  Ingalls Shipbuilding President Kari Wilkinson spoke with Sam and a group of visiting reporters about the efforts the shipbuilder is making to improve efficiency, how they are focusing on retaining talent and the readiness of the yard to support future work. Read the story below:

Gulf Coast Shipyards Growing Capacity While Navy Shipbuilding Plans Remain Unsettled

(USNI News, Aug. 18, 2022) By Sam LaGrone

PASCAGOULA, Miss. — From the fantail of the 24,000-ton Richard M. McCool Jr., (LPD 28), one can see the world’s most complex warships coming together, with shipbuilders welding, painting and running cables in the Mississippi sun.

Two Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers – Leah H. Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG 123) and the first Flight III Burke Jack Lucas (DDG 125) – are under construction and moored nearby. Further down the pier the Coast Guard National Security Cutter Calhoun (WMSL 759) is nearing completion. Towering stories over the pier nearby, still primer white, is the half-way complete Bougainville (LHA 8), the Navy’s next 45,000-ton big deck amphibious ship, designed from the keel up to host Marine F-35B Lighting II Joint Strike Fighters. Just north of McCool is the angular hull of Zumwalt-class guided-missile destroyer Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG 1002), awaiting the start of its combat systems activation before joining the fleet.

You can read the full article: https://news.usni.org/2022/08/17/gulf-coast-shipyards-growing-capacity-while-navy-shipbuilding-plans-remain-unsettled.