Joseph Tuite News

Huntington Ingalls Industries' (HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding division has delivered the composite deckhouse for the destroyer Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001) to the U.S. Navy. The 900-ton deckhouse provides an advanced structure that will house the ship's bridge, radars, antennae and intake/exhaust systems and is designed to provide a significantly smaller radar cross-section than any other ship in today's fleet. "This is a very unique structure for a very unique ship," said Kevin Amis, program director, DDG 1000 Program.

The Navy and Austal USA held a keel-laying ceremony for the future 'USS Gabrielle Giffords', the Navy's 10th littoral combat ship (LCS), in Mobile, Ala., informs the Program Executive Office Littoral Combat Ships. The ship's sponsor, Roxanna Green, was unable to attend the ceremony. The ship's namesake, former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, authenticated the keel by having her initials welded into a sheet of the ship's hull. "It is a special day for all of us on the Gulf Coast to have the ship's namesake, Rep.