Maine senators focus on funding ‘owed’ to BIW for destroyer

Members of Maine’s congressional delegation are continuing their push to fund construction of an additional destroyer they claim is owed to Bath Iron Works as part of a “ship-swap” agreement negotiated more than a decade ago.

A defense spending plan making its way through the U.S. Senate essentially authorizes a $400 million down payment on an additional DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.

Although that money is not guaranteed to flow to BIW, members of Maine’s delegation have been arguing since last year that the Bath shipyard should receive another destroyer contract under the terms of a 2002 agreement among the Navy, BIW and its chief competitor, Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

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