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HII’s Ingalls Begins Fabrication of USS John F. Lehman (DDG 137)

Reallocating major block fabrication to six partner yards lets Ingalls focus on final assembly to sustain Flight III production.

S firm starts building Navy's next powerful destroyer that can conduct anti-submarine operations.
HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division began fabrication by cutting steel plates of the future USS John F. Lehman (DDG 137) with a robotic plasma system June 29, 2026, marking the official start of construction on the Navy’s newest Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. Bottom, from left: Chris Brown, Ingalls Shipbuilding DDG 51 program manager; Ben Barnett, Ingalls Shipbuilding DDG 137 ship manager; Barney Varnado, Ingalls Shipbuilding burner work leaderman. Top, from left: Cmdr. Roxane Powers, U.S. Navy DDG 51 program manager’s representative, Supervisor of Shipbuilding (SUPSHIP), Gulf Coast; Charles Bufkin, U.S. Navy deputy Aegis test officer, SUPSHIP Gulf Coast.

Overview

  • HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding has officially started fabrication of the future USS John F. Lehman, marking the formal start of that Flight III Arleigh Burke‑class destroyer’s construction.
  • Six partner shipyards in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida are producing major structural units so Ingalls can concentrate its Pascagoula teams on final assembly and systems integration.
  • DDG 137 is the seventh Flight III destroyer at Ingalls and will be fitted with the AN/SPY‑6(V)1 radar and Aegis Baseline 10 combat system, upgrades that expand air‑and‑missile defense and sensor capacity.
  • Ingalls currently has five Flight III ships under construction and seven in early planning and procurement, and HII plans to outsource more than 2.5 million shipbuilding hours in 2026 to partner yards to keep the production pipeline moving.
  • The distributed model eases workforce and space limits at Pascagoula, spreads work to regional yards, and could speed delivery of next‑generation destroyers while bolstering the wider U.S. shipbuilding industrial base.