Ingalls Shipbuilding

Robert Ingersoll Ingalls Sr. built a shipyard on the east bank of the Pascagoula River in 1938 where it runs into the Gulf of Mexico. Mississippi's Gulf Coast had remained a frontier after statehood — in 1817, the coast held 2.5% of the state's population — and Pascagoula was a fishing village when the yard opened. Within a decade, it became an industrial city. During WWII, the yard employed over 12,000 workers and launched its first ship in 1940.

Ingalls started building commercial vessels. In the 1950s, the yard started bidding on Navy work, winning a contract in 1957 to build 12 nuclear-powered attack submarines. Litton Industries acquired Ingalls in 1961 and expanded its facilities to the other side of the river in 1968. Employment peaked in 1977 at 27,280 workers.

Hurricane Katrina damaged the facility on 29 August 2005. Most of the ships in dock and construction escaped serious harm. The large overhead cranes operating today are the same that survived the storm. Northrop Grumman spun off its shipbuilding sector into Huntington Ingalls Industries in 2011.

The yard produces Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, amphibious assault ships, and National Security Cutters. Ingalls Shipbuilding has built more U.S. Navy combatant vessels than any other shipyard and is Mississippi's largest private employer. The facility is not publicly accessible. Cranes and hulls are visible from waterfront parks along Beach Boulevard in east Pascagoula.