BATH – The lack of a final budget for the military could undermine the Navy’s shipbuilding plans, the chief of naval operations said Wednesday.

Adm. Gary Roughead said adjustments will be needed later if the Navy can’t move forward on additional ships in the current budget proposal, including a destroyer that would be built in Bath.

The Department of Defense has been operating under a continuing resolution, which is a stopgap measure that maintains previous funding levels. President Obama’s defense budget request is $549 billion, $23 billion more than what the Pentagon would get under a full-year continuing resolution.

“We’ve got to get out from under the continuing resolution,” Roughead said.

He made his remarks after touring Bath Iron Works with U.S. Sen. Susan Collins. The Maine Republican invited Roughead to visit the shipyard.

Collins pledged to keep working for passage of an adequate defense appropriations bill, saying it was “absolutely disgraceful” that Congress did not pass the bill before this fiscal year started Oct. 1.

“We’re engaged in two wars right now. We have an obligation to make sure our military has what it needs,” said Collins, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.

The continuing resolution expires March 4. Collins said she hopes the next extension will include the defense appropriations bill.

She said the Navy and BIW must finalize a contract for the final two of three Zumwalt-class destroyers, also known as DDG-1000s. Congress has already appropriated the funds.

A signed contract is critical to the stability of the shipyard’s work force and sustaining a strong industrial base for shipbuilding, Collins said.

BIW has completed about 30 percent of the first of the Zumwalt-class destroyers, said Jim DeMartini, a BIW spokesman. BIW is winding down work on Arleigh-Burke destroyers, also known as the DDG-51, before transitioning to the much larger Zumwalt class. The change is prompting 130 layoffs.

The Navy plans to return to the Arleigh Burke class after completion of the Zumwalts. Roughead said the Navy has the greatest need for the Arleigh Burke destroyers because they are capable of integrated air and missile defense and deeper-water anti-submarine warfare.

Staff Writer Ann S. Kim can be contacted at 791-6383 or at: akim@pressherald.com