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Austal USA this month launched its first steel ship, the future USNS Billy Frank Jr. (T-ATS 11). T-ATS 11 is the first of five Towing, Salvage and Rescue Ship ships the shipyard is building for the Navy. The company noted this is the first steel product at the company’s new “state-of-the-art automated steel panel line.” Austal USA’s Mobile, Ala., shipyard previously focused on the aluminum Independence-variant Littoral Combat Ships, but now has shifted to steel ships like T-ATS, producing modules…
