L-R: Steven King, Managing Director, Quonset Development Corporation (QDC); Ray Gabriel, VP, Quonset Point Operations, EB; USN Capt. Mark Parrella, Program Manager, Columbia-class SSBN Program; Joe Drake, VP, Facilities Master Plan, EB; Jeff Jepson, Executive VP/COO, Evans General Contractors.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held April 18, 2023, for Quonset Point’s Building 9C—an addition to the existing Building 9A/B complex—and one of many projects developed as part of Electric Boat’s Facilities Master Plan (FMP).
Electric Boat leadership, senior directors and managers, FMP team members, NAVSEA, Spatial Planning, RI Building Trades and ORR Partners, alongside builders J.H. Lynch & Sons, Inc. and Evans General Contractors, gathered together to celebrate the latest in a series of FMP milestones, all advancing EB toward its goal of updating its facilities to support our growth and the needs of the U.S. Navy.
“I applaud all who contributed to this FMP project and the expansion of Electric Boat, from the Facilities FMP group to Evans and Lynch and the RI Building Trades,” said EB’s Joe Drake, Vice President, Facilities Master Plan. “It’s amazing to see the transformation here and appreciate all the hard work to make all of this happen, from planning to construction.”
Electric Boat completed Buildings 9A and 9B, the first two buildings of the 9-series complex, in 2020, creating an additional eight acres of production space for Columbia and VPM modules at the Quonset Point facility. Building 9C, the final phase of the 9-series building, will further expand the outfitting production areas of Quonset Point, adding another five acres of production space to support VPM and Columbia construction.
“In shipbuilding, I always say that we need people, because people build ships. The same goes for the construction of these buildings, because people are what gets them built quickly and efficiently,” said Ray Gabriel, Vice President, Quonset Point Operations.
The 9C project consists of a one-story, 220,000 square-foot manufacturing building, and a two-story, 25,000 square-foot administrative building. The building is on-track for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2024.
