WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., and Congressman Steven Palazzo, R-Miss., praised the award of a $936 million contract to construct a DDG-51 Flight III Destroyer at Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula.

“Today’s announcement from the U.S. Navy is a huge vote of confidence for the talented shipyard workers at Huntington Ingalls and is excellent news for the men and women of our fleet,” Wicker said. “Exercising the option for an additional destroyer helps keep our production lines stable and brings us one ship closer to our 355-ship fleet goal. This new destroyer will serve as a flexible, capable, and powerful deterrent to our nation’s adversaries for decades to come.”

“This new contract is terrific news because it safeguards the continuity of the production line that produces DDG destroyers with better warfighting capabilities than ever before. Mississippi shipbuilders can take a measure of pride in their proficiency in constructing these vital ships for the Navy,” Hyde-Smith said.

“This DDG contract not only supports a stronger military, but it also provides continued work for our shipbuilders at Huntington Ingalls. This contract will support South Mississippi’s economic stability and enable the Navy to move closer to its fleet goal.  Once complete, the DDG will help our Navy dominate the seas and continue being the world’s most powerful Navy,” Palazzo said.

The Navy informed the lawmakers on Monday that it is exercising a FY2020 option for the construction of a USS Arleigh Burke DDG-51 class ship (DDG 135) in Pascagoula. The option for the additional ship modifies the September 2018 multi-year, fixed-price incentive contract for production of six DDG-51 vessels in Pascagoula through FY2022.

The new contract also includes options for engineering change proposals, design budgeting requirements, and post-delivery availabilities, which if exercised, would increase the cumulative contract value to $947.6 million. The ship is funded through FY2019 and FY2020 shipbuilding and conversion funding.

Wicker, Hyde-Smith, and Palazzo, through their committee assignments, work actively to support authorization and appropriations measures to maintain and grow the shipbuilding industry in Mississippi.