Nassco/General Dynamics Corp. said May 27 that it received a $744 million contract from the U.S. Navy that will fully fund two new ships.
The deal contains an option for a third ship that would boost the contract value to $1.3 billion.
The ship, called the mobile landing platform, will be 765 feet long. It will serve as a logistics platform or a “pier at sea,” and be part of a wider concept called “sea basing,” which the Navy and U.S. Marine Corps have been developing.
Nassco said it will begin construction of the first ship immediately and deliver it in 2013.
— Brad Graves