Blue Water Autonomy, a Boston-based technology and shipbuilding company, today announced details of its first vessel, the Liberty Class. It will be designed to support a range of missions including missile, sensor, and logistics payloads.
Liberty is a 190-foot steel autonomous ship with a range of more tan 10,000 nautical miles and more than 150 metric tons of payload capacity. The autonomous surface vessel was designed in partnership with Damen, with construction beginning at Conrad Shipyard in March 2026. The first vessel is expected to be completed for the U.S. Navy later this year.
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, minimizing slamming and allowing more gradual wave re-entry.
Blue Water redesigned the vessel from the inside out, beginning with the engine room and extending through 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.
Blue Water, working with more than 100 suppliers such as Damen and Conrad, has developed Liberty entirely with private capital. Its ships will be constructed at Conrad Shipyard in Louisiana, whose five yards and 1,100-strong workforce produce more than 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.
