Austal Delivers Montgomery (LCS 8) to the U.S. Navy

MOBILE, Ala. – Austal delivered the fourth Independence-variant littoral combat ship (LCS), the future USS Montgomery (LCS 8), to the U.S. Navy June 23 at an official document signing ceremony held aboard the ship.

This milestone marks the second LCS built by Austal as the prime contractor as part of an 11-ship contract worth over $3.5 billion.

 “I am proud and excited to be delivering another amazing combat ship to the Navy,” said Austal USA President Craig Perciavalle. “The talented men and women who make up the Austal LCS shipbuilding team are the best at what they do.  It’s an honor to work with them and to witness their hard work and dedication as it further evolves from ship to ship.”

After the delivery of Montgomery, six Independence-variant LCS remain under construction at Austal’s Alabama shipyard. Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10), Omaha (LCS 12) and Manchester (LCS 14) are being prepared for trials.  Assembly is underway on Tulsa (LCS 16) and Charleston (LCS 18) and modules for Cincinnati (LCS 20) are under construction in Austal’s module manufacturing facility.

“The achievement of this milestone is evidence of the level of maturity that the LCS program has reached at Austal,” said Perciavalle. “As we leverage lessons learned from one ship to the next, the momentum gained on this program will position us well in the future.”

In addition to the LCS program, Austal is also under contract to build 10 Expeditionary Fast Transport vessels (EPF) for the U.S. Navy under a $1.6 billion contract. Seven EPFs have been delivered while an additional three are in various stages of construction.