Shipbuilders Announce Incorporation Of American Shipbuilding Association American Shipbuilding Association
Six of the U.S.'s largest shipbuilding companies employing more than 90 percent of the U.S. workers involved in ship construction have formed a new, Washington, D.C.-based industry group, the American Shipbuilding Association (ASA). (See related editorial, page 8) The founding members of the group include: Avondale Industries, New Orleans; Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine; General Dynamics, Electric Boat Division, Groton, Conn.; Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Miss.; National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. (NASSCO), San Diego; and Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Va. ASA members are the largest private employers based in Virginia, Mississippi, Maine and Louisiana, and among the largest in both Connecticut and California. Together through ASA, the companies will work to focus public and government attention on the need for additional action to preserve America's capability to build major naval vessels and large oceangoing commercial ships.
ASA members build all of the U.S. Navy's major combatant ships and large auxiliary ships, including: nuclear powered aircraft carriers; amphibious assault ships; amphibious landing ships; attack submarines; fast ammunition supply ships; fleet oilers; AEGIS guided missile destroyers; strategic ballistic missile submarines; and strategic sealift ships.
The Navy shipbuilding budget, as has been well recorded, has sharply declined in recent years. ASA members are implementing aggressive cost reduction programs and working to re-enter commercial markets in order to help sustain the unique defense capabilities their shipyards and skilled workers possess. ASA elected officers for 1995 include: Albert L. Bossier, Jr., CEO of Avondale; Duane D. "Buzz" Fitzgerald, CEO of Bath Iron Works; Jerry St. Pe, CEO of Ingalls Shipbuilding; W.R. "Pat" Phillips, CEO of Newport News Shipbuilding; James E. Turner, Jr., CEO of General Dynamics Electric Boat Div.; and Richard H. Vortman, CEO of NASSCO.
For additional information on American Shipbuilding Association members, circle the corresponding number on the Reader Service Card in this issue.
Avondale 45 Bath Iron Works 46 General Dynamics, Elec. Boat Div 47 Ingalls Shipbuilding 48 NASSCO 49 Newport News Shipbuilding 50