BATH

Bath Iron Works is a mainstay of the Midcoast area.

The humble shipyard has an out-sized effect on the region, drawing workers in from communities more than an hour away and impacting local communities for miles. For good reason, many in the area fear what would happen if the shipyard were shut down.

“Without Bath Iron Works, the town of Bath and many of the surrounding communities would certainly be significantly different,” says Rich Nolon, president of BIW’s largest union, the Local S6.

While Nolon remains optimistic about the future, he does have concerns.

“I believe the next year will be vital to BIW’s future with the upcoming decision from the Coast Guard on the OPC program as well as the next multi year award of DDG-51’s from the Navy on the not too distant horizon,” he said.

Indeed, BIW’s future often appears uncertain from the outside. While current production is set to continue into the next decade, the shipyard must always be looking ahead for new contracts to fill its workload.

Currently, BIW is competing with two other shipyards for the U.S. Coast Guard’s Offshore Patrol Cutter program, and next year it will work to secure another contract to continue building the next round of DDG-51s.

Ralph Linwood Snow of Woolwich, author of “Bath Iron Works: The First Hundred

Years” and a local historian, is less concerned about BIW’s future.

“BIW is one of the few shipyards really capable of going beyond what’s established and expected,” said Snow.

According to Snow, BIW has long been an industry leader in high tech innovation and pushing available technology to the limit. Snow relayed the story of the BIW-built Timmerman as an example.

Post-WWII, the Navy ordered production to halt on over half a dozen destroyers across the country, including the Timmerman, which was about half-way completed at the time. While production at other shipyards was put on indefinite hiatus, the Navy soon gave orders for BIW to outfit the Timmerman with “the most advanced technical design obtainable.”

The final product was an experimental vessel that far exceeded any contemporaneous destroyers. While impressive for it’s technical innovations, the ship was, however, unreliable and ultimately short-lived.

“On the one hand, the Timmerman was a failure,” said Snow. “On the other hand, she marked the way for other ships in the future because they learned so much.”

For Snow, BIW’s ability to innovate and it’s technical proficiency at building small, complex ships makes it invaluable to the navy. Its advanced specialization, however, makes it an ill fit for creating commercial ships like tankers and cargo ships.

In many ways, the Zumwalt class destroyers currently being produced at BIW, like the recently christened Michael Monsoor, fit the mold described by Snow. The stealth destroyers tout an innovative design and technology that is far advanced of the other destroyers — a natural fit for the forward-thinking shipyard.

In over a century of shipbuilding, BIW has had its ups and downs, but it’s penchant for high quality work, technical innovation, and pushing the limit indicates that BIW will continue to shape Midcoast Maine for years to come.

nstrout@timesrecord.com