Building The Worlds Most Complex Warships In Mississippi
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By: Sam LaGrone
August 17, 2022 7:19 PM • Updated: August 17, 2022 7:42 PM
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.
While Ingalls Shipbuilding is full of activity now, there’s uncertainty not only for this yard, but for naval shipbuilders around the country as the Navy struggles with its long-range shipbuilding outlook. A few months ago, it wasn’t clear if the Navy would buy many more ships like McCool.
Earlier this year, the Department of the Navy was divided over the total number of amphibious warships the Navy could buy to execute the Marines’ new plan to take on China in the Western Pacific. Absent new orders, the San Antonio-class (LPD-17) line would top out at LPD-32, with no clear path on the future for the gator navy.
