WASHINGTON — The Navy awarded Bath Iron Works a $2.8 billion contract Monday to build four guided-missile destroyers over the next five years, providing some assurance to workers at one of Maine's largest employers.

Officials also indicated that BIW will likely get a contract for a fifth destroyer – valued at nearly $700 million – if the Navy can reach an agreement with Congress to cover a funding shortfall.

The Navy announced design and construction contracts for nine DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers through fiscal year 2017: four at the shipyard in Bath and five at Huntington Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss. BIW already has five DDG-51 ships under contract.

Measuring more than 500 feet long, the destroyers carry crews of 276 and are equipped with an array of missile, torpedo and machine gun systems plus two fully armed helicopters, according to the Navy.

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said the competitive, multi-year contracts "represent great value to the taxpayer" while supporting the needs of the Navy and the shipyards.

In a prepared statement, he said, "This award enables stability in our industrial base and ensures the Navy and the nation get the most efficient and affordable build plan for these destroyers."

U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King of Maine predicted that the additional ships will add stability to BIW's work force but expressed disappointment at the funding shortfall, which was created by Congress' failure to reach an agreement with the White House on an alternative deficit reduction plan.

"Haphazard budgeting processes, like sequestration, only serve to hamper our nation's economic health and military readiness," King said in a prepared statement.

With about 5,400 employees, BIW has one of Maine's largest private work forces and supports thousands of subcontractors' jobs.

BIW, owned by General Dynamics, has built more than half of the 66 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers the Navy has bought since 1985. It also has Navy contracts to build three DDG-1000 Zumwalt-class destroyers.

Dan Dowling, president of Local S6 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union at BIW, said he hopes that Monday's announcement will end "the waiting game" that workers have felt in recent years.

"In the very near term, the employment (situation) is fairly stable," Dowling said Monday afternoon, before it was clear exactly how many ship contracts BIW would win. "Obviously, to sustain the work force we would need more work, and this will get us on the way to a more secure future."

The number of destroyers that each shipyard would build was unknown before Monday's announcement, but the announcement of 10 new ships was no surprise. Congress had directed the Navy to move forward with a 10-destroyer building plan. The final ship remains stuck in the across-the-board "sequestration" budget cuts that began March 1.

Assistant Secretary of the Navy Sean Stackley told senators in early May that the Navy was about $300 million short for the 10th destroyer. He expressed optimism that the Navy could work with Congress to secure the funding.

Collins, King and Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine, whose district includes Bath, pledged Monday to keep working to do just that.

"Although four ships represent a lot of work for BIW, we need to keep fighting to get the remaining funding necessary for one more," Pingree said in a prepared statement. "These ships are the work horses of the fleet and are critical to our nation's defense."

Pingree is married to S. Donald Sussman, majority shareholder of the Portland Press Herald.

The new contracts provide some predictability – and job security, workers hope – at BIW at a time of considerable uncertainty in the defense industry. About five years ago, Navy officials abruptly canceled plans for additional DDG-1000 destroyers, some of which would have been built in Bath.

Designed to be a "stealth destroyer," the DDG-1000 Zumwalt-class destroyer was touted as an ultra-high-tech ship capable of operating close to shore. The Navy originally planned to purchase 32 Zumwalt destroyers and spent billions of dollars developing the ship.

But the Navy reduced the number as the program's cost mounted and concerns surfaced about aspects of the design. Then, in 2008, Navy officials announced that they were canceling the DDG-1000 program and, instead, planned to focus once more on the DDG-51.

BIW won the contract to build all three of the DDG-1000 ships that were authorized by the Navy and Congress, although the vessels' massive deckhouses are built at an Ingalls facility in Gulfport, Miss. The first DDG-1000 is expected to be completed in Bath later this year.

The Navy's decision to divide the DDG-51 contracts between BIW and Huntington Ingalls Shipbuilding is, in part, an attempt to maintain economic competition in the industry. Politics and the unpredictability of Mother Nature are also at play.

The congressional delegations of Maine and Mississippi have worked together in the past to scuttle attempts by the Navy to award contracts to a single shipyard. Hurricane Katrina, which caused widespread damage along the Mississippi coast in 2005, also prompted Navy officials to rethink a proposal that year to sole-source the contracts.

Kevin Miller can contacted at 317-6256 or at:

kmiller@pressherald.com