Overview
- The Defense Department certified that General Dynamics’ Bath Iron Works has the production capacity and managerial stability to support a second DDG-51 destroyer after a multi-factor review, Deputy Secretary Steve Feinberg said Monday.
- The Pentagon review examined production throughput, schedule adherence, quality assurance, supply chain resilience and workforce and concluded the yard has shown significant operational and managerial improvements while urging continued progress to fix legacy production problems.
- The certification does not create an order: the Navy’s fiscal 2027 budget requested only one destroyer and Pentagon officials say Congress must appropriate additional procurement funds before a second ship is built.
- Maine’s congressional delegation led by Sen. Susan Collins pressed the administration for reconsideration and welcomed the decision as validation of BIW’s roughly 6,800 workers and a defense of local jobs.
- Officials framed the move as part of a broader Pentagon effort to strengthen U.S. shipbuilding capacity to respond to global naval competition, and the certification could shape upcoming defense budget negotiations and future multiyear ship contracts.