By CHRISTOPHER P. CAVAS
MOBILE, ALA. — This shipyard across from downtown Mobile is — quite literally — on a roll. Huge aluminum components of littoral combat ships (LCS) and joint high speed vessels (JHSVs) are coming out of the sprawling manufacturing facility, placed on specialized, motorized transporters, and rolled a few hundred yards to the assembly halls. Pieces of ships large and small are all along the production lines, as both ship types have hit full-rate production.
To get to this point, Austal USA has added facilities for ship construction and shipyard management. Along with the shipyard expansion, the state of Alabama opened a maritime training center nearby, and the work force has exploded, from 800 employees in fall 2009 to about 4,000 today.
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