Austal USA breaks ground on new assembly facility, continuing investments in steel production line

Shipbuilder Austal USA broke ground this week on a new final steel assembly facility at its Mobile, AL yard that is scheduled to be complete and fully operational by the summer of 2026, according to a July 9 company announcement.

The project will include a new 192,000-square-foot, three-bay assembly building and a shiplift system capable of launching and docking vessels weighing over 18,000 long tons, including Independence-class Littoral Combat Ships, TAGOS-25 Ocean Surveillance Ships and Constellation-class frigates, the notice states.

Although the Mobile shipyard was initially designed to build aluminum vessels like the trimaran-hulled Independence-variant LCS and Spearhead-class Expeditionary Fast Transport, Austal began expanding the yard to accommodate steel production in 2021 when it broke ground on a steel panel line.

In addition to building surface ships, Austal has partnered with drone company Saildrone to produce autonomous unmanned surface vehicles at the shipyard as well as building submarine components for both the Columbia- and Virginia-class programs.

When the new final assembly facility is complete, the yard will encompass “a 117,000-square-foot steel panel line, two module manufacturing facilities totaling over one million square feet of covered manufacturing space optimized for serial production, and seven assembly bays providing over 400,000 square feet of indoor erection space,” the announcement continues.