MOBILE, Ala. – Austal USA was awarded a $156 million U.S. Navy contract option for the construction of two Navajo-class Towing, Salvage, and Rescue Ships (T-ATS), the company said in a release. With the award, the company is now under contract for four T-ATS, having received awards for T-ATS 11 and 12 in October 2021.
T-ATS will provide ocean-going tug, salvage, and rescue capabilities to support U.S. Navy fleet operations and will be a multi mission common hull platform capable of towing heavy ships. These ships will also be able to support current missions, including oil spill response, humanitarian assistance, and wide area search and surveillance.
The contract award follows Austal USA’s start of construction on its first T-ATS ship earlier this month that was celebrated at a ceremony attended by governmental officials and local community leaders. The highlight of the ceremony had U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl (R-Alabama) pushing the plasma cutter button making the first cut of steel for the ship.
“The T-ATS program is special to our team as it represents the start of construction of a new class of ship for our shipbuilding team. This contract is important because it provides us the backlog to really optimize production over the course of these four ships,” Austal USA President Rusty Murdaugh said. “We’re honored to have this contract and it illustrates the Navy’s continued confidence in our team’s demonstrated ability to deliver capability on-time and on-schedule.”
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