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Inside Goose Creek operations of the largest military shipbuilder in the US

A new division of the largest military shipbuilder in the U.S. is in full swing after establishing operations in South Carolina just two months ago.

Newport News Shipbuilding-Charleston Operations, a facility in a division of Virginia-based Huntington Ingalls Industries, better known as HII, began in Goose Creek roughly 60 days ago.

In two days, the site, which spans nearly 50 acres and includes roughly 500,000 square feet of manufacturing space, will send off its first structural unit to NNS headquarters in Virginia for U.S. Navy aircraft carrier production.

NNS is the sole builder of aircraft carriers for the nation and one of the two companies that build submarines for the U.S., Matt Needy, general manager and vice president of Charleston operations, said during a tour of the sprawling facility on Wednesday. The company has overseen the design, construction, overhaul and repair of more than 800 ships for the U.S. Navy and commercial customers since beginning 139 years ago.

The purpose of the NNS Goose Creek operations is to specialize in modules of the submarines and aircraft carriers to unburden the main production in Virginia, Needy said.

In January HII closed on the acquisition of all the assets of metal fabricator W International SC LLC and Vivid Empire SC LLC (collectively “W International”). Financial terms of the deal were not revealed.

The company specializes in two classes of nuclear-powered submarines, the Virginia-Class and the Columbia-Class. Modules that the Goose Creek operations produce include the habitability module, auxiliary machine room and weapons module of the Virginia-Class along with the auxiliary machine room and the weapons module for the Columbia-Class, Needy said.

Needy said HII had it sights set on South Carolina for some time, considering the pre-established manufacturing workforce in the region.

“Because of the buildings, because of the people that are here, because of the pipelines, because of the state and regional and educational relationships that we already had the foundation of, this became the obvious choice to most rapidly expand capacity and frequency for Newport News,” Needy said.

Creating a workforce pipeline

During the acquisition, 99% of the legacy employees from W International transitioned. Currently employing 475 workers at the Goose Creek location, Needy hopes to see those numbers rise by the hundreds.

Alexis Mervin, a class-three welder, has been working at the facility for three years.

“Everyone gets along very well here, its a lot of team membership and working with each other,” Mervin said. “I’m over here building aircraft carriers for the Navy, submarines as well. It’s just an amazing experience.”

When joining the NNS Goose Creek facility, employees go through a 12-week course learning the specifics of NNS operations. During their training, they are considered full-time employees with benefits.

“This is a people-centered business,” Needy said. “It takes the heads, the hearts, the minds of a lot of great shipbuilders doing this complex work every day to bring the ships to life.”

Since starting the training program in October 2021, there have been about 1,200 students to graduate from it, Mark Schmitt, director of plant services operations, said. Schools like Goose Creek High School and Berkley High School teach a curriculum that helps the transition into the Newport News curriculum.

“You have these young guys and gals coming out of high school and signing letters in front of everybody going to colleges and universities,” Schmitt said. “Our version of that is The Summit. They come here, their parents come out here and they sign a letter of intent saying ‘I’m going to go be a welder for Newport News.’ It really is a powerful thing for us.”

Ashanti Grant, an 18-year-old welder for Newport News, heard about the opportunity through his high school. After attending Trident Technical College, he is finished his training with Newport News and has been working for about a year

“I didn’t know anything about welding before the job fair,” Grant said. “It’s really good here.”

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The site spans 48-acres along the Cooper River, allowing access to deep water transportation as well as rail transportation that goes through the acreage. The land contains 480,000 square feet of manufacturing space.

Making an investment in the Lowcountry

Located next to the HII campus is a Leonardo DRS building under construction to open in 2026. The company is a leading provider of naval power and control technology solutions for the U.S. Navy. Needy said the two companies share a property line, road access and single barge slip so they are having meetings to maintain that relationship.

Materials for the productions are all sourced from the U.S. According to Needy, HII spends $500 million annually on local sourcing in the Lowcountry. Additionally, HII operations contribute $110 million per year in investments to its workforce, including education, scholarships, retirement and more.

“The Navy is in more demand than ever,” Needy said. “In my 34 years here with Newport News and the Huntington Ingalls Industries, I’ve never seen demand like the need for the ships that we build today.”

When the facility was W International, operations were exclusively a welding facility. Needy says the NNS goal is to build off those operations, scaling into something larger.

Needy said once the locations operations are at full capacity, it won’t just be steel structures for the modules being sent out, but fully outfitted modules with doors, walls, beds and more. He doesn’t expect the facility to be at its full-rate production capacity until 2027 and 2028.

: |Updated: Feb. 19, 2025 at 7:45 PM EST

GOOSE CREEK, S.C. (WCSC) - Members of a neighborhood in Crowfield are advocating for traffic calming measures along a growing throughfare road.

Crowfield Boulevard, a two-lane road, attaches on one end to Saint James Avenue, and on the other, College Park Road. The road can be frequented by commuters coming to or from major roadways like I-26, Highway 176, Highway 52 or Rivers Avenue.

In 2013, the South Carolina Department of Transportation tracked 28, 400 daily commuters in the area. In 2023, the number rose to 39,100. As the number sits on a steady incline, neighbors on the lakeside are asking for increased traffic measures.

The surrounding area is full of walking trails, many of them which cross over the road. The boulevard currently has light-beaconed crosswalk signs and a speed limit of between 40 and 45 miles per hour.

Jason Bermudez said the regular walks he takes with his five kids are times where he is on high alert. Bermudez adds he has witnessed cars that do not yield to the signs or speed through.

“As a parent, the first thing I do is I look through the windshield at the person to see if they even recognize there is a person at the crosswalk,” Bermudez said. “The increase in traffic makes it unsafe to cross the street.”

Heather Byrd moved to the area more than a decade ago in search of a home for her growing family. If her kids want to ride their bikes, she prefers it only when she can be around.

“I don’t let them because I’m scared for them to have anything to do with Crowfield Boulevard. People are stupid. I’m just not comfortable with them doing that. I would love to say they could come hang out on the lake or on the other portion of the lake. There is no lighting, no safety features that make me feel comfortable doing so,” Byrd said. “We’re going through a residential section of approximately 3,800 homes. That’s a lot of residents.”

The South Carolina Department of Public Safety reports 185 crashes on Crowfield Boulevard since 2022. Four of them involved pedestrians.

Byrd and Bermudez are asking for a traffic study to determine the next course of action. They have suggested the installation of increased lighting, pavement markings and, in some areas, roundabouts or traffic circles.

“Traffic on Crowfield is an issue. Over the last 10 years, you’ve seen the increase in population and how traffic has increased along Crowfield Boulevard,” Bermudez said.

“What’s the price of safety? Safer is better, not just for one person but for everybody. You can’t put a price on that,” Byrd said.

Copyright 2025 WCSC. All rights reserved.

|Updated: Feb. 11, 2025 at 7:47 PM EST

GOOSE CREEK, S.C. (WCSC) - The City of Goose Creek is talking about building a new multi-purpose facility, not only for city council meetings but also for residents and businesses to rent for events.

At a city council meeting Tuesday night, council members unanimously approved the multi-million-dollar project that will now serve as an event center and as the council’s new chambers.

Mayor Greg Habib said Goose Creek has had significant population growth over the past two decades and with no signs of slowing down.

“We built this in 1999, and it’s served us very well for 25 years, and still serves us well today. But in 1999, the city of Goose Creek was 29,000 people. Today, it’s 50,000. So, we’ve grown, obviously significantly. To serve that number of people, we need more staff. We have adjusted this building just about as much as we can to fit as many people in it as we can,” he said.

Habib said they’ve run out of office space in the current town hall building they work out of, and they desperately need a new one in order to meet the demands of an expanding staff and growing population.

“It’s a really important investment. When you have more code enforcement officers and more building inspectors and more folks trying to serve the people who live in the City of Goose Creek, and the businesses doing business in the City of Goose Creek, you have to have somewhere to put them and this will be their nice new office here,” he said.

In response to office overcrowding, city leaders plan to build a brand-new, $13-million, 13,500 square-foot-multi-use facility, The Assembly.

“So, the new facility will be multi-purpose. It will be a place where we can hold our council meetings. But more than that, it’s a place where folks can hold events and the city can have events. We see people renting it out for family reunions, for weddings, for banquets, for all of those things in the years to come,” Habib said.

Habib said The Assembly will fill gaps the rapid population boom has created.

He noted that the council’s current chambers inside city hall will be converted into additional office space for their growing staff.

Construction for The Assembly is expected to begin later this spring.

The incoming addition will be built right next to the town’s existing city hall.

The building is set to be finished by the end of 2026.

Copyright 2025 WCSC. All rights reserved.

GOOSE CREEK, S.C. (WCIV) — A global defense provider and naval manufacturing is preparing to establish an operation in Berkeley County, with company officials estimating a creation of over 250 new jobs.

HII, headquartered in Virginia, said they will achieve this through the acquisition of substantially all assets of W International SC, LLC and Vivid Empire SC, LLC, collectively known as W International, a South Carolina-based complex metal fabricator.

HII specializes in manufacturing naval ships and defense technology solutions for clients including the U.S. Navy. The company said they have over 135 years of experience and 44,000 employees nationwide.

Governor Henry McMaster stated, "HII establishing operations in Berkeley County further solidifies South Carolina’s reputation as the ideal location for advanced manufacturing. The more than 250 anticipated new jobs this investment will bring is proof that manufacturing companies of all types recognize the benefits of doing business in our state."

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The transaction, completed on Jan. 22, 2025, involves HII investing in new equipment and retrofitting the acquired facility at 2040 Bushy Park Rd. in Goose Creek to meet its manufacturing requirements. The renovated facility will operate within HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding division, supporting Virginia-class, Columbia-class, and aircraft carrier programs, according to the SC Department of Commerce.

HII President and CEO Chris Kastner stated, "HII is committed to going where the labor is to increase capacity and increase throughput for our national security customers. This transaction is a win-win with our new partners in South Carolina – we’re excited to bring work and grow jobs. This lets us efficiently add trained talent and state-of-the-art manufacturing capabilities to the urgent job of building ships, making it a unique opportunity to immediately accelerate throughput at Newport News Shipbuilding in support of the Navy and AUKUS."

The Coordinating Council for Economic Development has approved job development credits related to the project and awarded a $750,000 Set-Aside grant to Berkeley County to assist with building improvements, according to a release. Operations will remain ongoing, and individuals interested in joining the HII team are encouraged to visit the company’s careers page.