Huntington Ingalls Industries‘ (NYSE: HII) shipbuilding division has begun building another national security cutter for the U.S. Coast Guard.
The Munro is the firm’s sixth NSC and joins two cutters, the Hamilton and the James, that Huntington Ingalls has already been constructing, the company said Tuesday.
The firm has already delivered three ships to the Coast Guard which are currently serving as flagships of the cutter fleet.
The Coast Guard aims for the cutter fleet to expand maritime homeland security, law enforcement, marine safety, environmental protection and national defense capabilities.
“Our shipbuilders have a great jump start on the construction of this ship as we have already cut and processed more than 400 tons of steel for NSC 6, ” said Jim French, Ingalls’ NSC program manager.
Ingalls Shipbuilding recently installed an electronics light-off milestone to Hamilton for electrical system power and assembled 70 percent of James’ components.
Hamilton is scheduled for christening on Oct. 26 and James is slated for launch in 2014.
The ships have a top speed of 28 knots, a range of 12, 000 miles and hold a crew of 110.
