Litton Ingalls kicked off the construction process of the first cruise ship to be built in the U.S. in 40 years, with a pre-July 4th ceremony at the yard's Pascagoula, Miss. headquarters celebrating the vessel's hull fabrication. Located among a patriotically-centered flag waving crowd was Uncle Sam, the yard's guest operator, who went aboard a plasma arc plate cutting machine to cut the initial steel plate for Project America Hull #1 — the first in a series of cruise ships built by Litton Ingalls for American Classic Voyages (AMCV). The commencing of the hull fabrication marked the start of the construction of the first of two 1,900-passenger cruise ships for AMCV.