HII Newport News Shipbuilding is buying a manufacturing facility outside of Charleston, S.C., to build submarine and aircraft carrier modules, the president of the shipyard said on Wednesday.
The 480,000-square-foot manufacturing facility sits on a 45-acre plot north of Charleston and was formerly owned by manufacturer W International.
“We’re not acquiring W International. This is an asset transaction,” Newport News president Jennifer Boykin told reporters on Wednesday.
“It represents an opportunity… to increase our capacity overall so it will not affect the workforce here at Newport News. In fact, we expect both sites to continue to grow.”
Boykin said the about 500 employees who worked for W International would be invited to join the new Newport News Shipbuilding – Charleston Operations. Pending approvals, the sale is set to close by the end of the year, according to a statement from HII. The price was not disclosed.
“This region has a very strong shipbuilding ecosystem that’s been growing [and we’re] really excited about that,” Boykin said.
“There’s great trades workforce capability down there. We’re excited about that. So about 500 employees… all will be offered the opportunity to come to work with us at Newport News.”
The HII outpost will be overseen by Newport News vice president Matt Needy who will oversee the plan for module work as the general manager.
“We know which Virginia-class modules will be built down there. In fact, we know which footprint at the site each will be built in and that’s the same for Columbia-class,” Boykin said.
“Our expectation is that you know, as the throughput there grows, we know what’s next and really the intention is for that site in Charleston to become a center of excellence for particular modules.”
Moving submarine work out of submarine yards Newport News and General Dynamics Electric Boat is a key effort by the submarine industrial base to increase the production rate to two Virginia-class attack submarines and one ballistic nuclear missile Columbia-class a year. HII currently outsources about a million hours of submarine work outside of Newport News.
Prior to the acquisition of the facility, W International produced submarine modules for both General Dynamics Electric Boat and Newport News, however Newport News cancelled its contracts with the company in 2022, according to a report in the Post and Courier newspaper.
Boykin said Electric Boat would be moving the work to another facility.
“We’re working with electric boat and the site as they’re transitioning that work to a different focus factory,” she said.
The acquisition comes in the midst of a Department of Justice investigation into, “in which an unnamed whistleblower claims the metal fabricator misspent potentially millions of dollars in federal funds,” reported The Post and Courier.
Company founder and CEO Ed Walker has denied any wrongdoing.
