NASSCO gets funds for final T-AKEs

SAN DIEGO, March 2 (UPI) -- The U.S. Navy has contracted General Dynamics to deliver two new T-AKE vessels marking the final two ships in the Lewis and Clark class of cargo ships.

U.S. company General Dynamics says its National Steel and Shipbuilding Company unit received the contracts for the 13th and 14th T-AKE dry cargo-ammunition ships.

NASSCO, which recently delivered the ninth T-AKE vessel to the Navy and is in the process of constructing the 11th and 12th T-AKE ships, received a $824.6 million award for the construction of the Medgar Evers T-AKE 13 and the currently unnamed T-AKE 14.

According to a news release, construction of T-AKE 13 and 14 is to begin in the second and fourth quarters of 2010.