 
Building upon a partnership begun in
1938, Ingalls, Litton Industries, then Ingalls' parent corporation, and the people of the State of Mississippi joined in a
partnership in the late 1960s to build an entirely new, modern shipyard. This new 611-acre
shipyard, built on the west bank of the Pascagoula River, across from the Company's
existing 178-acre facility on the east bank of the river, was developed around a modular
ship production concept pioneered in the U.S. by Ingalls and Litton. This process involves
the most extensive engineering, design and ship production coordination ever utilized in
U.S. Navy shipbuilding.
Modular ship production begins with hundreds
of smaller subassemblies in which piping sections, ventilation ducting, and other
shipboard hardware, as well as major machinery items, such as main propulsion equipment,
generators, and electrical panels are installed. The preoutfitted subassemblies are then
joined with others to form assemblies which are welded together to form complete hull and
superstructure modules. These giant ship modules, each weighing thousands of tons, are
joined together on land to form the completed ship hull prior to launch. The result of
this early outfitting and modular construction is a ship more than 70 percent complete at
launch.
Ingalls' ship launch and recovery process is
just as innovative as its the Company's production methods. Completed ship hulls are
rolled, on a rail transfer system, from the construction area to Ingalls' floating drydock
for launch. The drydock is then positioned over a deep-water pit and ballasted down,
allowing the ship to float free. Following launch, each ship is taken to an outfitting
pier for champagne christening, final outfitting, dockside and at-sea predelivery testing
and onboard crew training.
This system, refined and technologically
upgraded over the years, has been applied to the construction of SPRUANCE (DD 963) Class
multimission destroyers, TARAWA (LHA 1) Class general purpose amphibious assault ships,
KIDD (DDG 993) Class guided missile destroyers and TICONDEROGA (CG 47) Class Aegis guided
missile cruisers; and is now being applied to the construction of ARLEIGH BURKE (DDG 51)
Class Aegis guided missile destroyers and WASP (LHD 1) Class multipurpose amphibious
assault ships for the U.S. Navy, as well as luxury cruise ships and a variety of offshore
marine products.
Today, in addition to pioneering and refining new, more
efficient vessel construction methods, the Company's design and technical engineering
division offers a versatility of superior engineering services unmatched in a production
facility. Ingalls has led the marine industry in pioneering efforts to integrate advanced
computer technology into ship and system design, construction and life-cycle support.
Working with computer designers and manufacturers around the world,
Ingalls has developed the most advanced, most proficient three-dimensional Computer-Aided
Design (CAD) and Engineering (CAE) systems available in the shipbuilding / marine
production industry.
The CAD / CAE design process for ships built at Ingalls is linked with an
integrated Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) production network of host-based computers
and localized minicomputers throughout the shipyard. Ingalls' system produces digital data
used by the CAM equipment to electronically direct the operation of numerically-controlled
manufacturing equipment cutting steel plates, bending pipe and laying out sheetmetal
assemblies, and supporting other manufacturing processes. This technology significantly
enhances design efficiency, and reduces the number of manual steps involved in converting
design drawings to ship components, improving productivity and efficiency.
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