(Tribune News Service) — Ingalls Shipbuilding hosted the Secretary of the Navy and other top military leaders Wednesday and showed them the shipyard has the capacity and workforce to build a share of the nation’s Golden Fleet.

With ships under construction around them and a dolphin surfacing nearby, Secretary of the Navy John Phelan, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Daryl Caudle and Commandant of the Marine Corps General Eric Smith toured the Pascagoula shipyard and answered questions from the media.

They want ships built quickly, they said, but they also want quality and the most advanced capabilities.

“Obviously we want to do better, faster,” said Phelan, who told the media he was impressed with the workers and advanced manufacturing he saw Wednesday.

“One thing people don’t say — our shipbuilders are as important as the sailors and marines who are going out to the fight,” he said. He called the workers at Ingalls “a real national treasure and national asset.”

After touring the shipyard, Smith said, “The quality of these ships is unbelievably good.”

“I stake my life on these ships. I got a son who’s a marine,” he said, “and he’ll deploy on these ships.”

The 11,000 Ingalls’ workers care, he said. Like him, they have family in the military — “so it’s personal here.” Pascagoula’s part in Golden Fleet

The Golden Fleet program President Donald Trump announced in December calls for multiple shipyards to build frigates and battleships with advanced technology and design that will hold up for centuries.

“One thing to keep in mind is, when we build a ship, it lasts between at least 30 years and some greater than 50 years,” Caudle said.

Ingalls Shipyard was selected to design and build a new class of smaller combatant ships, the U.S. Navy announced in December. The FF(X) frigate is based on Ingalls’ Legend-Class National Security Cutter the company built for years in Pascagoula.

Ingalls is one of a few shipyards in the United States large enough to build the Navy’s next battleship. When the battleship Defiant comes online, it is expected to be the most incredible platform the Navy has ever built.

The golden fleet is about three things, Phelan said: * Getting the most modern, best ships that equip U.S. sailors to win and to deter enemies from starting a fight, he said. * Improving the maritime industrial base and getting back to making things in this country. * The Navy is going to change how it does things. “We are going to become a better customer, but a smarter customer. And we want these shipyards to do well. We want them to make ships faster. We want them to make money. We need to get it out fast.” Jobs and speed

“The big thing holding us back is labor,” Phelan said. So I’ll say it again. We want workers. We want we to make a good work environment. We want to get fair pay.”

The goal is to build efficient, high-quality ships while addressing labor shortages and improving workforce retention.

“Across our shipyards we recognize the U.S. Navy’s urgent need for ships,” said Chris Kastner, Huntington Ingalls Industries’ president and CEO.. “HII has worked diligently in partnership with our customer to expand our capacity to deliver on this increased and urgent demand, by investing in our yards, establishing partnerships, increasing our hiring and retention, and increasing shipbuilder proficiency to support performance,” he said.

The first frigate, which is in the design phase now, is scheduled to be operational in 2028.

Can that aggressive timeline be met?

“President wants it to happen. It’s going to happen, pretty confident,” Phelan said. “We can move out pretty fast.”

What people don’t understand about shipbuilding is with a hot production line, ships can be built faster, he said, and the cost curve per ship comes down almost 50% for the company and the Navy. “So the key is to give them repeat, predictable business,” he said, something the president understands as a builder.

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