Senate OKs Navy plan to buy Ala., Wis. warships

MILWAUKEE — Wisconsin Sen. Herb Kohl's office says the Senate has approved the Navy's plan to buy 10 advanced combat ships from each of two shipbuilders in Wisconsin and Alabama.

The contract would create several thousand jobs at Marinette Marine Corp. in Marinette, Wis., and Austal USA in Mobile, Ala. Michigan would also pick up several hundred jobs because Marinette is on the Wisconsin-Michigan border.

Kohl's office says the Senate approved the plan Tuesday as part of a larger bill, which passed 79 to 16. The bill still has to be approved by the U.S. House and then signed by the president.

The contracts are for littoral combat ships. Those are a new class of speedy warship designed to conduct water combat immediately off an enemy's shore.