HII starts construction on destroyer John F. Lehman (DDG 137)

HII (NYSE: HII), through its Ingalls Shipbuilding division in Pascagoula, Miss., began fabrication of the future USS John F. Lehman (DDG 137) on June 29, 2026, marking the official start of construction on the U.S. Navy's newest Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.

DDG 137 is the seventh Flight III destroyer to be constructed at Ingalls. The vessel will feature the AN/SPY-6(V)1 radar system and the Aegis Baseline 10 combat system.

For this ship, HII is using a distributed shipbuilding model, with six partner facilities across Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida producing structural units. Ingalls is then focused on final assembly and integration.

"Our Ingalls shipbuilders have worked hard to reach fabrication start on DDG 137, and by focusing our teams and facilities on final assembly and integration, our distributed shipbuilding partners are enabling us to grow the Flight III fleet," said Chris Brown, Ingalls Shipbuilding DDG 51 program manager.

Ingalls currently has five Flight III destroyers under construction and seven more in early pre-planning and material procurement phases. HII said it plans to outsource more than 2.5 million hours of shipbuilding work in 2026 to qualified yards nationwide as part of its distributed production strategy.

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