Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding division moved destroyer Delbert D. Black (DDG 119) to Pier Four on the east bank of the Pascagoula River yesterday, signifying the reopening of a facility decimated in Hurricane Katrina.
The newly reactivated, 187-acre east bank features covered construction areas to improve safety and optimize ship assembly, expansive storage facilities and a fully restored pier where ships will dock upon returning from sea trials. Delbert D. Black and its crew will remain on the east bank until the ship’s sail-away date later this year.
“This restoration and modernization project demonstrates our commitment to continuously enhancing our shipbuilding facilities to increase capability and ensure future growth,” Ingalls Shipbuilding President Brian Cuccias said. “We are proud to see more of our workforce, and our customers, moving back into the heart of the city of Pascagoula.”
Throughout the reactivation project, Ingalls cleared and recycled more than 100,000 tons of concrete which was used to construct a road base on the east bank. All of the interior and exterior lighting on the east bank will use LED technology.
Many historical features from original east bank facilities were salvaged and incorporated into new structures on the property, including all of the bricks from a 1930s guard house as well as a concrete slab into which Robert Ingalls Sr., founder of Ingalls Shipbuilding, carved his initials.
“In reopening the east bank, we celebrate the 80-plus year legacy of those Ingalls shipbuilders who came before us, and look forward to continuing Ingalls’ legacy of building the finest ships in the world for decades to come,” Cuccias said.
Huntington Ingalls Industries is America’s largest military shipbuilding company and a provider of professional services to partners in government and industry. For more than a century, HII’s Newport News and Ingalls shipbuilding divisions in Virginia and Mississippi have built more ships in more ship classes than any other U.S. naval shipbuilder. HII’s Technical Solutions division supports national security missions around the globe with unmanned systems, defense and federal solutions, nuclear and environmental services, and fleet sustainment. Headquartered in Newport News, Virginia, HII employs more than 42,000 people operating both domestically and internationally.
