Austal Begins Dry Dock Construction

Austal USA began construction on the U.S. Navy’s Auxiliary Floating Dry Dock Medium (AFDM) at the company’s Gulf Coast ship manufacturing facility in Mobile last week. AFDM is the third program to begin construction at Austal’s steel assembly line following the Navy’s Towing, Salvage, and Rescue 11 and 12 ships, the first two of four Austal is under contract to build. “This dry dock will be a first for Austal, but we’re up to the challenge,” Austal USA Vice President, New Construction Dave Growden said. “Our talented shipbuilders are always ready for whatever we require of them, whether it’s the fourth ship in a multiship program or the first of a new design.” The 694-ft-long vessel design incorporates features to improve operability and maintainability based on Austal USA’s experience and lessons learned from owning, operating and maintaining a similar dry dock at its ship repair facility in Mobile.