Ingalls Making Strides On Three US Navy Destroyers

Ingalls Shipbuilding, part of HII, has given a progress update on the construction of three Arleigh Burke-class destroyers it is currently building for the U.S. Navy.

On social media it released an image of the future USS Jeremiah Denton, USS George M. Neal and USS Sam Nunn in various stages of construction at the Ingalls’ shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

The pictured vessels furthest along the journey to completion are George M. Neal and Jeremiah Denton, towards the left hand side of the image.

Work on these two ships began only 11 months apart; fabrication of Jeremiah Denton (farthest left) began in earnest at the start of January 2021 and construction on Jeremiah Denton started just before the Christmas break in December that same year.

Construction work on Sam Nunn is a little further back: that ship’s building programme began a year later, in December 2022.

In total Ingalls has so far delivered no fewer than 35 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers to the U.S. Navy, including the first Flight III ship in the class, USS Jack H. Lucas, which was launched in June 2021 and commissioned into service in October 2023.

In August 2023 Ingalls also successfully launched the U.S. Navy’s third Flight III Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, the future USS Ted Stevens.

As well as the three ships pictured, Ingalls also has the future USS Thad Cochran in the early stages of construction. The firm is also in the pre-planning and material procurement phases for a further four destroyers: John F. Lehman, Telesforo Trinidad, Ernest E. Evans and Charles J. French.

Huntington Ingalls Industries is America’s largest military shipbuilding company; as per its website, over more than a century HII’s Newport News and Ingalls shipbuilding divisions, in Virginia and Mississippi, respectively, have built more ships in more classes than any other U.S. naval shipbuilder.

In a social media post Ingalls simply stated: “Thank you, shipbuilders, for the work you are doing every day to get these ships ready for their next milestone!”

• You can read more about all these ships on the HII website