HII Shipbuilding’s Gulfport Facility Reaches Important Hangar Milestone

Huntington Ingalls Industries  announced yesterday that its Ingalls Shipbuilding division achieved a significant milestone in the construction process of the composite hangar that will be used on the U.S. Navy’s second Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyer, Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001). Recently, the shipbuilders at the company’s Gulfport, Miss., facility turned the inverted hangar to an upright position, or ship-shape, which is an important and necessary feat in the construction schedule of this component.

“We have a strict schedule we follow in the construction of the hangar, and turning it ship-shape allows us to finish the necessary outfitting and integration prior to delivery,” said Ingalls’ DDG 1000 Program Manager Steve Sloan. “Our Gulfport shipbuilders are performing well on our DDG 1001 work, and we have demonstrated a considerable improvement from the first set of class products to the second set.

The shipbuilders who specialize in composite work are able to perform a significant amount of outfitting as the hangar is constructed in an inverted position. The 216-ton, 68-foot wide structure is currently 71 percent complete and will be fully outfitted and ready for delivery at the end of September.

Ingalls Shipbuilding is building the hangar, peripheral vertical launch system (PVLS) and composite deckhouse for DDG 1001. The PVLS is under construction at the company’s Pascagoula facility and is expected to be delivered at the end of July. All major units have been stacked on the composite deckhouse, and it is currently 57 percent complete. It is expected to be delivered in the first quarter of 2014.

The Ingalls Composite Center of Excellence is home to the world’s largest numerically controlled five-axis saw capable of sawing, drilling and milling very large composite components to highly accurate tolerances. Located on 125 acres with access to water, rail and highway transportation links, it has more than 322,000 square feet of manufacturing space (5.6 football fields) with 253,000 square feet (4.5 football fields) that is environmentally controlled. It has the only U.S. Department of Labor Composite Apprentice Program and is a certified OSHA Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) STAR Site.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) designs, builds and maintains nuclear and non-nuclear ships for the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard and provides after-market services for military ships around the globe. For more than a century, HII has built more ships in more ship classes than any other U.S. naval shipbuilder at its Newport News Shipbuilding and Ingalls Shipbuilding divisions. Employing about 37,000 in Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana and California, HII also provides a wide variety of products and services to the commercial energy industry and other government customers, including the Department of Energy.

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Naval Today Staff, April 9, 2013; Image: HII