INGALLS 130 MILLION DOLLAR SHIP FACTORY

At the new shipbuilding facility at West Pascagoula being built by Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp, the steel plate moves through the fabrication and panel shops prior to shot blasting and priming. Sections then move to a subassembly area and then on to a modular assembly area. The modular sections, weighing between 1500 and 2100 t are then transferred by a special wheel-on-rail system to the ship integration area. Here the modular sections are assembled to form a hull which is then transferred in much the same way to a huge 57,000 ton dead weight capacity floating dry dock situated alongside the integration area. The near sidewalls of the dock are movable and, when replaced with the ship in position, the dock is submerged and the ship floated off and towed to the outfitting docks. The essence of the system is that when a ship is floated from the dock it will be 92% complete. The system aims at an initial 30% reduction in man hours per ton throughput. A diagram shows flow of work through the facility, and some details are given for orders booked.

• Corporate Authors:

  Transport and Technical Publications Limited

  161-166 Fleet Street
  London,   England 
• Publication Date: 1970-6-5

Media Info

• Pagination: p. 25-26
• Serial:
  • Shipbuilding and Shipping Record
  • Issue Number: n22
  • Publisher: Transport and Technical Publications Limited

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Assembly lines; Cargo handling equipment; Drydock operations; Materials management; Productivity; Shipbuilding; Shipyards
• Old TRIS Terms: Flow line production systems; Shipyard mechanization
• Subject Areas: Construction; Marine Transportation; Terminals and Facilities;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00015161
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Engineering Index
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: May 13 1974 12:00AM