‘Arsenal’ of Naval Strength Returns to Maryland Despite No Love Lost Between Federal, State Officials

As Chinese shipbuilding capacity operates as much as 200 times greater than the United States, the Trump administration is turning to one of America’s bluest cities to redefine American naval power and reshape the Navy’s ability to speedily send attack submarines to patrol the depths of the sea.Defense contractor Anduril Industries is investing $3.7 billion in Baltimore County’s Sparrows Point Shipyard, located about 40 miles outside Washington, D.C., and bordering Baltimore City, a separate jurisdiction. The Arsenal-2 shipbuilding facility will begin with constructing torpedo tubes for the Virginia-class attack submarines, but it could soon grow to build entire segments of the submarines themselves. The private equity investment is joined by a $2.9 billion contract from the Navy and up to $500 million in local incentives.“Less than two years ago, this national treasure was abandoned and was totally forgotten,” Mr. Trump said Tuesday during an event to launch the new shipyard. “But it’s not forgotten any longer.”For 130 years Sparrows Point forged the steel and built the ships that served as the backbone of American naval power. That includes more than 100 Liberty ships constructed between 1939 and 1945 to supply the fleet that won World War II’s Battle of the Atlantic. The manufacturing capacity also resupplied Great Britain against Nazi Germany.“In the 1790s, Baltimore Clippers were the fastest and most advanced sailing ships of their time,” said Anduril CEO Palmer Luckey. “King George III didn’t stand a chance. Time to run the same play.”While the Baltimore Harbor sits as home to the Navy’s last sail‑only warship, the USS Constellation, and America’s National Anthem was written while Francis Scott Key sat prisoner on an American truce ship during the War of 1812, Baltimore’s shipbuilding and manufacturing legacy has waned in recent decades as have the fortunes of local residents reliant on the waterways for their livelihoods. Sparrows Point was “among the most active yards in the nation” during the 1950s and 1960s, according to the Baltimore Museum of Industry. In 1953, the yard was number one in the world with 216,000 deadweight tons of new shop construction delivered. Nearby Bethlehem Steel shipbuilding employed 1,700 workers and operated four dry docks before it closed in 1982. The area sat mostly empty and decaying for decades until a revitalization project called Tradepoint Atlantic, the site which will now be renamed for the project, was rebuilt last decade as a transportation and warehouse hub for companies such as Amazon and CSX rail. Still, nothing has competed locally on the scale of the newly envisioned shipbuilding facility. “Arsenal-2 marks a turning point for Sparrows Point,” said the Democratic Baltimore County Executive, Kathy Klausmeier. “This project will bring thousands of good jobs, new opportunities for local businesses, and billions in long-term economic value, strengthening our county for decades to come.”Arsenal-2 will feature a two million square-foot plant that will build autonomous submarines alongside components for the Virginia class. Anduril builds the Dive-XL, an extra large autonomous undersea craft that can conduct long-duration missions, including target strikes, seabed intelligence gathering, and maritime surveillance.The investment will create more than 3,000 new, permanent jobs, making it the largest job creator in Maryland in more than a decade, the state’s Department of Commerce said. Anduril says the plant will generate $2 billion of economic output per year.The president said the shipyard, situated beneath the former Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed in March 2024 after being hit by a Singapore-flagged container ship, MV Dali, will be up and running within two years. Anduril estimates operations will start in 2030. “This massive new project will deliver the largest private investment, drive billions of dollars in economic activity, and create the most jobs in Maryland in history,” said Governor Wes Moore, a Democrat who pulled out of the Tuesday event with the president when he was told he would not have a speaking role. Mr. Moore, a potential longshot candidate for a 2028 presidential bid, previously sparred with the president in 2025 when the governor invited Mr. Trump for a walk through the city of Baltimore. Mr. Trump responded that he would not tour the place until the “hellhole” was cleaned up. They have also tussled over the cost and timeline for rebuilding the bridge, which served as a major artery for regional commuters. The district’s Democratic congressman, Johnny Olszewski, a longtime critic of the president who grew up not far from the shipyard’s location, also praised the developments without mentioning the federal role. “Every family deserves the dignity that comes with a good paycheck, and this project will help deliver that promise to thousands of Marylanders,“ he said. Sparrow’s Point includes a deepwater port and a 50-foot wide maritime channel. It’s about halfway between the two East Coast shipyards at Groton, Connecticut and Newport News, Virginia, where Virginia-class submarines are currently manufactured. Anduril says Arsenal-2’s location, along with the existing roads, railyards, and maritime infrastructure at Sparrow’s Point will allow the operation to more easily deliver components to accelerate Arsenal-2 manufacturing.Currently, the Navy is building an average of one Virginia-class attack sub per year, Mr. Luckey said. Anduril’s investments will increase that average to two to three submarines annually, he said. Forty-five Virginia-class submarines are planned, with at least three headed to Australia as part of an Australia-United Kingdom-United States submarine deal.Mr. Luckey has also been tapped to sit on Project Meridian, a Pentagon panel that will study the future of warfare, alongside SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. A former chief ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration, Richard Painter, has raised concerns of a conflict of interest between Mr. Musk and Mr. Luckey’s businesses and the Pentagon study group.“They all want to sell stuff,” Mr. Painter said of contractors, according to NPR. He added that contractors are not “doing it as a neutral public service.”At its new facility, Anduril will operate its industrial software platform, ArsenalOS, to provide digital work instruction and help with automation. Anduril is also making Virginia-class submarine components at a facility in Orange County, California. The company says the California operation will allow them a two-year “head start” in getting the Baltimore plant fully ready before component manufacturing fully shifts to the East Coast.“With American hands, American heart, and American grit, we will build the future of America’s Navy right here in Baltimore,” the president said, “and it will be a future of peace through strength.”

‘Arsenal’ of Naval Strength Returns to Maryland Despite No Love Lost Between Federal, State Officials

‘Arsenal’ of Naval Strength Returns to Maryland Despite No Love Lost Between Federal, State Officials

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