Navy contracts seen as victories for aluminum ships.

• Author: Jean, Grace V.

* Austal USA took a gamble several years ago when it invested millions to construct a new shipbuilding facility in Mobile, Ala., ahead of winning a Navy contract. When it became the sole builder of the joint high speed vessel--its target program--yard officials were elated.

The shipbuilder in December found more reason to celebrate after the Navy awarded another contract, this time to construct 10 of its newest surface combatant, the littoral combat ship. Austal's offering, based on a commercial-derived aluminum trimaran hull, is one of two LCS designs. Rival Lockheed Martin Corp. was also awarded a contract to build 10 more of its steel monohull version of the ship at Fin-canteri Marine Group-owned Marinette Marine Corp., a shipbuilder located in Marinette, Wis.

Austal USA President Joseph Rella hopes to reap efficiencies from building both JHSV and LCS at the same time.

"While LCS is a much more complex and larger vessel, there still are a lot of commonalities between the two ships," he said.

The hulls share the same structural aluminum and geometry of extruded panels. They also run on the same model main propulsion diesel engines. Suppliers are providing the same aerodynamic fins, ride control components and software on both vessels. General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems serves as the ship systems integrator on both programs.

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To accommodate LCS, officials are pushing ahead with plans to construct the second half of its 360,000-square foot modular manufacturing facility. The current building, 1,000 feet long by 360 feet wide, is laid out as a moving assembly line. A variety of machinery shops radiate from the production line to help workers fabricate parts that connect to modules as they travel down the length of the building. The modules are then transported to the final assembly bay where workers weld the parts into the hull.

The building extension will mirror the first assembly line's layout. The ultimate goal is a 720,000-square foot facility through which both JHSV and LCS will be built. Rather than allot each program a specific side of the building, officials envision running the ship modules through in tandem. "We'll try to optimize that as much as we can between both sides so periodically...