US startup Blue Water Autonomy is developing a fully autonomous cargo boat in partnership with Dutch shipbuilder Damen.

During World War II, the United States mass-produced a class of cargo ships known as “Liberty Ships.” With more than 2,700 of the class built between 1941 and 1945, the Liberty Ship continues to hold the record for the most large ships ever built on a single design. The low-cost, quickly-produced vessels quickly proved vital to the war effort, transporting massive amounts of cargo and personnel across war theaters in the Atlantic and the Pacific. In total, the Liberty Ships accounted for two-thirds of all US wartime cargo transported to the various theaters of operation during the conflict.

In a potential war in the Indo-Pacific, the US military will again need to move equipment, and work is already underway on a 21st-century Liberty Ship. Although the role and cargo capacity will be similar, the new version will be a little different, notably in that it won’t require a large crew—or indeed, any crew at all.

A US Defense Startup Is Building an Autonomous Liberty Ship

Blue Water Autonomy announced this month that it was developing a new Liberty-class 190-foot steel autonomous ship with a range of more than 10,000 nautical miles and the ability to carry upwards of 150 metric tons of cargo. The Boston-based technology and shipbuilder has partnered with the Dutch-based Damen Shipyards Group, which is aiding in the design, with the vessels being constructed at Conrad Shipyard’s facilities in Louisiana.

Work on the lead vessel will begin next month, with the first vessel on track to be delivered to the US Navy by the end of the calendar year.

“Liberty’s design supports a range of missions, including missile, sensor, and logistics payloads, and offers the Navy a ship immediately producible with existing US shipyards and commercial supply chains,” the company explained in a statement.

The new Liberty-class vessel is based on Damen’s Stan Patrol 6009 hull design, which features the distinctive “Axe Bow” that reportedly can slice “cleanly through the waves,” and minimize slamming. There are more than 300 Axe Bow vessels in service worldwide.

“The Axe Bow hull was designed for demanding operational requirements, from speed and range to seakeeping,” said Mark Honders, Design and License Manager at Damen. “Seeing the Stan Patrol 6009 adapted for autonomous operation underscores the flexibility of the design and demonstrates how proven commercial designs can serve new and emerging maritime missions.”

Blue Water Autonomy also claimed that the design could reduce technical risk and allow it to focus on “re-architecting the vessel’s internal systems for autonomous operation.” The Boston-based firm further redesigned the transport ships to accommodate the autonomous systems, along with a “fault-tolerant propulsion system,” which will enable greater autonomy with limited human intervention, even for month-long deployments at sea.

“The Liberty class reflects our focus on building autonomous ships that are designed from the start for long-duration operations and repeat production,” explained Rylan Hamilton, CEO of Blue Water Autonomy. “By adapting a proven hull and re-engineering it for unmanned operations, we’re delivering a vessel that can operate for extended periods without crew while being produced at a pace the Navy urgently needs. This is a modern take on an old idea: building capable ships quickly and at scale.”

Louisiana Is a Fitting Place to Build the New Liberty Ships

The original World War II-era Liberty Ships were constructed at 18 specialized shipyards, with major production occurring at Richmond, California; Portland, Oregon; Vancouver, Washington; Baltimore, Maryland; Wilmington, North Carolina; and Brunswick and Savannah, Georgia.

Delta Shipbuilding, located on the Industrial Canal in New Orleans, was also a major producer of Liberty Ships, with other firms, including Pendleton Shipyards, involved in the construction or fitting out of the vessels. New Orleans was also where many of the “Higgins Boat” landing craft of D-Day fame were built.

It is thus fitting that Conrad Shipyard, which has five yards and a workforce of 1,100, will produce the new Liberty Ships, employing its advanced shipbuilding approach. The future autonomous cargo boats will be manufactured via Conrad Shipyard’s “highly automated panel line and welding techniques.” That could enable parallel builds, significantly reducing each ship’s overall build time.

“Conrad has a long history of building complex vessels for both commercial and government customers,” said Cecil Hernandez, president and CEO of Conrad Shipyard. “We have the infrastructure, workforce, and production readiness to begin construction and support serial builds, helping translate advanced vessel designs into operational capacity.”

Blue Water Autonomy is set to deliver the first ship this year and then move to serial production, aiming to deliver 10 to 20 vessels annually. 

About the Author: Peter Suciu

Peter Suciu has contributed over 3,200 published pieces to more than four dozen magazines and websites over a 30-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a contributing writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: Editor@nationalinterest.org.

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