Inside South Carolina operations of the largest military shipbuilder in the US

A new division of the largest military shipbuilder in the U.S. is in full swing after establishing operations in South Carolina just two months ago.

Newport News Shipbuilding-Charleston Operations, a facility in a division of Virginia-based Huntington Ingalls Industries, better known as HII, began in Goose Creek roughly 60 days ago.

In two days, the site, which spans nearly 50 acres and includes roughly 500,000 square feet of manufacturing space, will send off its first structural unit to NNS headquarters in Virginia for U.S. Navy aircraft carrier production.

NNS is the sole builder of aircraft carriers for the nation and one of the two companies that build submarines for the U.S., Matt Needy, general manager and vice president of Charleston operations, said during a tour of the sprawling facility on Wednesday. The company has overseen the design, construction, overhaul and repair of more than 800 ships for the U.S. Navy and commercial customers since beginning 139 years ago.

The purpose of the NNS Goose Creek operations is to specialize in modules of the submarines and aircraft carriers to unburden the main production in Virginia, Needy said.

In January HII closed on the acquisition of all the assets of metal fabricator W International SC LLC and Vivid Empire SC LLC (collectively “W International”). Financial terms of the deal were not revealed.

The company specializes in two classes of nuclear-powered submarines, the Virginia-Class and the Columbia-Class. Modules that the Goose Creek operations produce include the habitability module, auxiliary machine room and weapons module of the Virginia-Class along with the auxiliary machine room and the weapons module for the Columbia-Class, Needy said.

Needy said HII had it sights set on South Carolina for some time, considering the pre-established manufacturing workforce in the region.

“Because of the buildings, because of the people that are here, because of the pipelines, because of the state and regional and educational relationships that we already had the foundation of, this became the obvious choice to most rapidly expand capacity and frequency for Newport News,” Needy said.

Creating a workforce pipeline

During the acquisition, 99% of the legacy employees from W International transitioned. Currently employing 475 workers at the Goose Creek location, Needy hopes to see those numbers rise by the hundreds.

Alexis Mervin, a class-three welder, has been working at the facility for three years.

“Everyone gets along very well here, its a lot of team membership and working with each other,” Mervin said. “I’m over here building aircraft carriers for the Navy, submarines as well. It’s just an amazing experience.”

When joining the NNS Goose Creek facility, employees go through a 12-week course learning the specifics of NNS operations. During their training, they are considered full-time employees with benefits.

“This is a people-centered business,” Needy said. “It takes the heads, the hearts, the minds of a lot of great shipbuilders doing this complex work every day to bring the ships to life.”

Since starting the training program in October 2021, there have been about 1,200 students to graduate from it, Mark Schmitt, director of plant services operations, said. Schools like Goose Creek High School and Berkley High School teach a curriculum that helps the transition into the Newport News curriculum.

“You have these young guys and gals coming out of high school and signing letters in front of everybody going to colleges and universities,” Schmitt said. “Our version of that is The Summit. They come here, their parents come out here and they sign a letter of intent saying ‘I’m going to go be a welder for Newport News.’ It really is a powerful thing for us.”

Ashanti Grant, an 18-year-old welder for Newport News, heard about the opportunity through his high school. After attending Trident Technical College, he is finished his training with Newport News and has been working for about a year

“I didn’t know anything about welding before the job fair,” Grant said. “It’s really good here.”

The site spans 48-acres along the Cooper River, allowing access to deep water transportation as well as rail transportation that goes through the acreage. The land contains 480,000 square feet of manufacturing space.

Making an investment in the Lowcountry

Located next to the HII campus is a Leonardo DRS building under construction to open in 2026. The company is a leading provider of naval power and control technology solutions for the U.S. Navy. Needy said the two companies share a property line, road access and single barge slip so they are having meetings to maintain that relationship.

Materials for the productions are all sourced from the U.S. According to Needy, HII spends $500 million annually on local sourcing in the Lowcountry. Additionally, HII operations contribute $110 million per year in investments to its workforce, including education, scholarships, retirement and more.

“The Navy is in more demand than ever,” Needy said. “In my 34 years here with Newport News and the Huntington Ingalls Industries, I’ve never seen demand like the need for the ships that we build today.”

When the facility was W International, operations were exclusively a welding facility. Needy says the NNS goal is to build off those operations, scaling into something larger.

Needy said once the locations operations are at full capacity, it won’t just be steel structures for the modules being sent out, but fully outfitted modules with doors, walls, beds and more. He doesn’t expect the facility to be at its full-rate production capacity until 2027 and 2028.