Austal begins final assembly of JHSV 3

JHSV 3 one of five Navy Ves­sels Under Con­struc­tion at Austal USA

JHSV 3 Mod­ule Click to enlarge

The third Joint High Speed Ves­sel (JHSV) is tak­ing shape on the water­front in Mobile, Alaba­ma. The first of 43 mod­ules for JHSV 3 have been suc­cess­ful­ly trans­port­ed from the Mod­ule Man­u­fac­tur­ing Facil­i­ty (MMF) and erect­ed in the final assem­bly bay on the waterfront. 

The most recent mod­ule trans­port­ed, at just under 90 per cent com­plete, is 20.4 metres long with a max­i­mum width of 8.3 metres and is 9.4 metres high from keel to main deck. The mod­ule weighed just under 46 tonnes at time of erection. 

JHSV 3 is one of five Navy ves­sels cur­rent­ly under con­struc­tion at Austal’s Mobile, Alaba­ma ship­yard. Con­struc­tion on JHSV 3 began in Octo­ber 2011 and this mod­ule is one of the first that will be erect­ed for the JHSV 3 Keel Lay­ing Cer­e­mo­ny sched­uled for May 3, 2012. 

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. Austal has received con­struc­tion con­tracts from the Navy for nine of the ten vessels. 

Source:
Austal