Austal USA, the American arm of the West Australia based shipbuilder Austal, has been awarded a US$3.6 million functional design contract to prepare for construction of the new Navajo-class Towing, Salvage and Rescue Ship (T-ATS) for the United States Navy.
The contract will see Austal USA prepare a functional design for the T-ATS, an 80 metre steel monohull vessel with multi-mission capability to support a variety of towing, salvage, search and rescue, oil spill response, humanitarian assistance and surveillance activities.
Austal’s CEO Paddy Gregg said the contract marks another major milestone in the continuing evolution of the Mobile, Alabama shipyard, which is undergoing a US$100 million expansion to provide steel shipbuilding capability to meet increasing demand by the US Navy and US Coast Guard for steel vessels.
“In March 2021, the Austal USA team broke ground on new steel shipbuilding facilities and now, we have received the first contract to design the steel-hulled Navajo-class T-ATS ships for the United States Navy,” Mr Gregg said.
“Austal USA is now well on the path to delivering steel ships for the United States Navy and we couldn’t be prouder of the hardworking team in Mobile, Alabama; now the 5th largest shipyard in the United States.”
“As part of the design contract, Austal USA will define detailed requirements to construct, test, and deliver T-ATS ships in accordance with United States Government ship specifications.”
