On June 25, 2013, Austal held a keel-laying ceremony for the fourth Independence-variant Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) – Montgomery (LCS 8). This is the second LCS of ten awarded by the Navy to Austal, as prime contractor, and the sixth keel laying ceremony celebrated by Austal, as prime, in less than three years. During that time Austal has grown tremendously, increasing by over 2,000 total employees, and doubling the size of the facility. Mary Blackshear Sessions, the ship’s sponsor, was present to weld her initials onto the keel plate as the Keel Authenticator.