Our History
Austal USA started operations in 1999 with under 100 employees on a 14-acre facility that consisted of a 90 x 60 assembly bay fronted by a 380-foot wharf. The original support staff of six included three vice presidents and their assistants and the team worked in a double-wide trailer.
The first major expansion was completed in November 2005, shortly after Austal USA began designing the Independence-variant Littoral Combat Ship for the U.S. Navy. This expansion included two additional assembly bays, two launch pads, and a combined wharf (bulkhead) length of 750 feet.
Over $560 million has been invested in the expansion of Austal USA's state-of-the-art ship manufacturing facility and the company has grown employment to over 3,000 professional and production staff. The 165-acre campus on the east bank of the Mobile River includes four final assembly bays, a 717,000 square foot Module Manufacturing Facility that includes both steel and aluminum assembly lines, two office buildings, an administration building housing the Navy and Coast Guard's program support staff, and a drive-through warehouse. Austal USA has also constructed a Vessel Completion Yard that serves as the final location for its ships prior to acceptance trials, delivery and sail away.
In 2020, Austal USA purchased 15 acres of waterfront property on the west side of the Mobile River and established a ship service and maintenance facility. The Austal USA West Campus includes 100,000 square feet of covered repair facilities.
Austal USA entered the steel shipbuilding market in 2021 breaking ground on the company's steel manufacturing line in March positioning the company to start steel production in April 2022. The addition of steel capability allows Austal USA to build and deliver steel ships needed by the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy.
To address Austal USA's growing order book and over $10 billion of backlog, in 2024 the company broke ground and began construction on an additional final assembly structure (FA2) and a module manufacturing facility dedicated to building submarine modules. Upon completion of these buildings, Austal USA’ s Mobile, Ala. ship manufacturing facility will include a 117,000 square-foot steel panel line, two module manufacturing facilities totaling over one million square feet of covered manufacturing space optimized for serial production, and seven assembly bays providing over 400,000 square feet of indoor erection space. In all, the Mobile facility covers 180 acres and, when this project is complete, over 1.5 million square feet of indoor manufacturing space.
The company's growth would not have been possible without the assistance of the City of Mobile, Mobile County and the State of Alabama along with several significant federal grants. All three community partners made financial contributions to Austal USA's expansion efforts and the State also supports workforce development and training.
In return for employment commitments, which have been reached by Austal USA, the State built the AIDT Maritime Training Center – a 60,000 square foot training facility located just east of the Austal USA facility. The State has provided Austal USA exclusive use of 40,000 square feet of this facility, the use of which has allowed the company to increase the availability of skilled labor to the Gulf Coast maritime industry. Fifty percent of our new workforce is trained in the MTC and 100 percent receives post-employment training and certification in the MTC.
