Ingalls to hire 2,500 this year

Brian Cuccias, Ingalls Shipbuilding's new president, said the Pascagoula, Miss., shipyard is looking to hire 2,500 craft workers this year. He made the comment during a Huntington Ingalls Industries overview at the Navy League Sea Air Space 2014 Expo in Washington. "We're well on our way to that," said Cuccias, noting that Mississippi's largest employer now has 12,000 workers. "We have a real push to pull veterans into the yard." The shipyard has a $10 billion backlog of work into 2018, including a $3.3 billion contract to build five DDG 51 class ships. (Source: Mississippi Press, Defense News, 04/08/14)