On November 8, 2011, Austal held a keel-laying ceremony for its second Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV), "Choctaw County" (JHSV 2), one of seven Austal-designed 103-metre US Navy Joint High Speed Vessels under contract with the US Department of Defense.
The object of a traditional keel-laying ceremony is to mark the first significant milestone in the construction of the ship, however, due to Austal’s modular approach to ship manufacture, the ship is actually over 50 percent complete, with every one of the over 40 modules used to form this 103-metre aluminum catamaran design already being assembled.
For Austal, keel-laying marks the beginning of final assembly.
Two super modules have been moved from Austal’s Module Manufacturing Facility (MMF) and erected in the final assembly bay in their pre-launch position.
“We have worked through our first-in-class issues and are moving into serial production,” said Joe Rella, Chief Operating Officer and President of Austal USA. “With the fabrication of "Choctaw County", we are over 30 percent more efficient at this point than we were with "USNS Spearhead".”
By building pieces of the ship in a separate facility, fabricators can install and test generators, propulsion equipment, electrical, piping and ventilation systems and other critical components in a controlled, efficient manufacturing environment.
Austal was selected as prime contractor in November 2008 to design and build the first JHSV, with options for nine additional vessels expected to be exercised between FY09 and FY13 as part of a program potentially worth over US$1.6 billion.