Licence to construct 60-metre Autonomous Ship agreed
February 12, 2026By Seawork Press FP
Damen Shipyards
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Damen Shipyards Group has announced a licence agreement with Blue Water Autonomy, a Boston-based technology and shipbuilding company. Under the agreement, Blue Water Autonomy will construct its first vessel, the Liberty Class.
Designed by the two companies in partnership, Liberty is a 60-metre steel autonomous ship with a range of over 10,000 nautical miles and over 150 tonnes of payload capacity. Construction is scheduled to begin in March 2026 at Conrad Shipyard in Louisiana, whose five yards and 1,100-strong workforce produce 30+ ships per year. Conrad uses an advanced shipbuilding approach, including highly automated panel line and welding techniques, that allow parallel builds and scalable throughput.
The launch of Liberty comes as U.S. Navy and Pentagon leadership push defence contractors to privately develop key military technology; accelerating the deployment of unmanned systems that complement traditional crewed ships has become a critical effort.
The Liberty class will be built on Damen’s Stan Patrol 6009 hull design. Blue Water selected the design due to its Axe Bow, a distinctive, vertical bow that slices cleanly through the waves, minimising slamming and allowing more gradual wave re-entry. Over 300 Axe Bow vessels operate globally.
The proven design reduces technical risk, allowing Blue Water to focus engineering on re-architecting the vessel's internal systems for autonomous operation. To achieve autonomy, Blue Water redesigned the vessel from the inside out, beginning with the engine room and extending to the ship’s mechanical and electrical systems through autonomous configuration of fault-tolerant propulsion systems. Those design choices enable automated control and fault management with limited human intervention on months-long deployments, resulting in a design with an operational range of approximately 10,000 nautical miles.
Wrapped around the ship’s internal technology, the Axe Bow steel hull offers a rugged wave-piercing ship proven in harsh ocean environments. . The resulting platform retains the hull’s performance, payload capacity, and seakeeping characteristics, while supporting months-long deployment and serial production.
“The Axe Bow hull was designed for demanding operational requirements, from speed and range to seakeeping,” said Mark Honders, Design and Licence Manager at Damen. “Seeing the Stan Patrol 6009 adapted for autonomous operation underscores the flexibility of the design and demonstrates how proven commercial designs can serve new and emerging maritime missions.”
Liberty class is a reference to the Liberty Ships of World War II, which were produced rapidly and at scale to meet urgent national needs. The first vessel is expected to be completed for the U.S. Navy later this year under a programme of record. Following delivery of the first ship, Blue Water plans to move into serial production, targeting ten to twenty vessels per year.
