Posted on April 23, 2025
There are many U.S. Shipbuilding Companies known for building and repairing ships and other vessels for military and commercial clients. There are hundreds of businesses involved in ship construction in the country. Major contract opportunities for nuclear-powered submarines, aircraft carriers, destroyers, and other vessels have formed healthy backlogs and revenue growth for major defence contractors and subcontractors.
In this article, let us look at the Top U.S. Shipbuilding Companies.
1. Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII)
HII is an international, all-domain defence provider which builds the world’s most powerful ships and technologies. It is headquartered in Virginia and is the largest military shipbuilding company in the U.S.
It has three divisions, namely Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News, Virginia, which is known for building U.S. Navy aircraft carriers, submarines, refuelling and overhaul and carrier inactivation.
Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi, constructs the U.S. Navy’s surface combatants, amphibious warships and U.S. Coast Guard Cutters.
Mission Technologies provides fleet support, command support, engineering and IT solutions, cybersecurity, unmanned systems, oil and gas services, intelligence analysis, etc.
The company has constructed more than 800 ships for its customers.
2. General Dynamics NASSCO (National Steel and Shipbuilding Company)
The company has been designing and constructing ships in San Diego’s industrial corridor since 1960 and is the only full-service shipyard on the U.S West Coast.
General Dynamics NASSCO has constructed approximately 70 ships for the U.S. Navy and 53 for commercial customers since the 1960s. These include combat logistics support ships, amphibious ships, and oil tankers.
3. Fincantieri Marine Group
This company is one of the leading shipbuilders with a portfolio of innovative and advanced vessels. It comprises three Great Lakes shipyards.
Fincantieri Marinette Marine is known for building small surface combatants, where the U.S. Navy’s guided-missile frigates and Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ships are built.
Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding specialises in constructing, repairing and converting Coast Guard and commercial vessels, including OSVs and ATBs. It is also constructing the two largest LNG bunker barges ever built in the U.S.
Fincantieri ACE Marine is an aluminium construction facility where Coast Guard’s medium-sized Response Boats take shape. It also designs and builds high-speed coastal intercept and patrol vessels.
The company recently finished a $300 million capital expansion program for our U.S. shipyards.
4. Hanwha Philly Shipyard
Earlier known as the Philly Shipyard, Inc., this U.S. shipbuilding company undertakes government as well as commercial projects, ranging from shipbuilding to repairs and maintenance.
Based in the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, the company’s 118-acre facility lies at the confluence of the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers. The location in the mid-Atlantic gives it access to the Gulf of America and the Atlantic Ocean.
Acquired by Hanwa in 2024, this shipyard also offers other services apart from taking on new projects, such as repairs, overhauls and conversions.
5. Austal USA
This ship manufacturer is based in Mobile, Alabama and has service centres in Singapore and San Diego, including a technology centre in Charlottesville.
It builds steel and aluminium ships and has a moving module production line, allowing it to deliver projects on schedule.
The company is under contract for several programs, including the U.S. Coast Guard’s Heritage-class Offshore Patrol Cutter, Landing Craft Utility (LCU) vessel, Navajo-class Towing, Salvage and Rescue ship (T-ATS), Expeditionary Medical Ship (EMS), Auxiliary Floating Dry Dock Medium (AFDM), and Independence-variant Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) programs.
It also supports the Navy’s unmanned vessel programs and the Military Sealift Command. Its San Diego Service Centre has a waterfront facility that can accommodate small combatants and similarly sized ships.
It received 27 safety excellence awards and is one of the safest shipyards in America.
6. Bollinger Shipyards LLC
This shipyard has a 78-year legacy as the builder of coast guard cutters, patrol boats for the U.S Navy, salvage and research vessels, barges, offshore oil field support vessels, rigs, lift boats, tugboats, and other steel and aluminium products.
It is one of the biggest privately-owned and operated shipyards in the U.S, with 11 facilities located throughout Louisiana and Mississippi, directly accessible to the Gulf of America, the Mississippi River and the Intracoastal Waterway.
It was founded as a tiny machine ship by Donald G. Bollinger in 1946 to service the local agriculture and oil industries, but today it is under the third generation of family ownership and is a prominent name in the shipbuilding industry.
7. Vigor Industrial
This American shipbuilding company provides services in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. It is based in Portland, Oregon and has many subsidiary companies with 7 facilities and 10 drydocks, offering over 17,000 ft of pier space. It has more than 2000 employees.
Each of its subsidiary companies focuses on different specialities. For instance, Vigor Alaska constructs new vessels and offers heavy fabrication, repairs and maintenance services in Ketchikan, Alaska.
Vigor Marine specialises in commercial ship repairs in Portland, Seattle, Tacoma and Everett and can mobilise teams anywhere when needed, including Hawaii.
8. Seaward Services Inc.
This company was established in 1981 and is a full-service shipping, waterfront logistics and management company which operates, maintains and repairs government and commercial ships like high-speed craft, range craft, training craft, experimental craft, research vessels, cable-laying vessels, and unmanned surface and sub-surface vessels.
Since 2001, the company has crewed and maintained a variety of high-speed ships in support of DoD contracts, including HST WestPac Express, USNS Guam, USNS Puerto Rico, FSF-1 Sea Fighter, HSC Alakai, etc.
It has also operated deep-water vessels for DoD contracts like OSV Hercules out of the Dutch Harbour, and Hunter, Hugo and Narragansett that gave training support to the US Navy.
9. Chesapeake Shipbuilding
The company has more than 30 years of industry experience, which has made it a preferred builder of commercial ships sailing in both inland waterways and even the oceans.
It specialises in constructing and designing passenger ships, tugboats, ferry boats, etc. The company produces customised small cruise ships as well, along with restaurant boats and oil supply boats.
Their coastal cruise ships are the biggest, built to meet the U.S. Coast Guard and SOLAS regulations.
The company’s shipbuilding yard lies on 13 acres of land. There are 2 construction basins, 3 launch systems and a ground transfer system and several hull fabrication buildings and shops.
10. Bath Iron Works
This U.S. shipyard is situated in Bath, Maine and was founded in 1884. It has been a subsidiary of General Dynamics, a defence company.
Bath Iron Works has constructed several private, commercial and naval ships. It has many off-site facilities in the mid-coast Maine area.
This facility is the closest to the main yard and stores and distributes products to other Bath Iron Works facilities.
