Ingalls is Hiring for 2,000 Shipbuilding Positions
Mississippi-based Ingalls Shipbuilding has announced plans to hire over 2,000 full-time shipbuilders, reflecting its strong backlog and its hopes for future procurement contracts.
Ingalls will host a hiring event on July 9 at the Ingalls Maritime Training Academy, and it hopes to recruit a total of 2,000 new staff. The shipbuilder, which is Mississippi’s largest manufacturing employer, intends to hire pipe fitters, pipe welders, structural welders, ship fitters and apprentices to join its 11,500 strong workforce.
“With a shipbuilding legacy of nearly 84 years, Ingalls offers careers dedicated to a service mission — building ships that protect and defend our freedoms,” said Kari Wilkinson, Ingalls Shipbuilding President.
According to the company, the new employees will receive competitive starting wages, day-one benefits, 12 paid holidays annually and opportunities for advancement making Ingalls a great place to work.
“With over 500 different jobs, there is no limit to what you can do at Ingalls,” said Susan Jacobs, vice president of human resources and administration. She added that although shipbuilding is hard work, the company strives to make sure that its employees have the tools and conveniences they need to do the hard work well.
Ingalls Shipbuilding is located on an 800-acre facility, and it recently completed a state-of-the-art upgrade that includes covered workspaces to keep shipbuilders dry and cool (key for Mississippi). The facility upgrades include better access to work sites and tool rooms, and expanded dining options within the yard complex.
As one of the three main yards involved in the construction of the U.S. Navy's large surface combatants, the company has a solid backlog. Currently Ingalls is building Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers, Legend-class national security cutters, America-class amphibious assault ships (LHAs), and Flight I/II San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ships (LPDs). It is also working on the combat systems of the third Zumwalt-class guided-missile destroyer.
Last month, the shipbuilder received a $240 million procurement contract from the U.S. Navy to provide long-lead-time material and advance construction activities for amphibious transport dock LPD 32, the 16th in the San Antonio class and the third upgraded San Antonio Flight II. Ingalls has already delivered 12 San Antonio-class ships to the U.S. Navy over the years and has two more under construction, Richard M. McCool Jr. and Harrisburg. Fabrication of the 15th, the future USS Pittsburgh, will begin later this year.
The U.S. Navy's FY2023 budget request would truncate the class at 16 hulls and make LPD 32 the last ship in the series; this is a change from its previous 355-ship fleet plan, which called for 10 more. The U.S. Marine Corps has informed Congress that it would like to continue procuring at least one more San Antonio Flight II, its top unfunded priority in FY2023.