BATH (AP) – The Navy on Thursday awarded Maine shipyard Bath Iron Works a final $1.4 billion contract to build the DDG-1000 Zumwalt Class destroyer.

The DDG-1000, previously known as DD(X), is the Navy’s next-generation destroyer. The contract will help BIW maintain its work force as it transitions from building one destroyer class to another. BIW is one of Maine’s largest employers, with about 5,800 employees.

In July, the Navy announced that BIW would deliver the first ship of the class to the Navy. BIW, a subsidiary of General Dynamics Corp., and Northrop Grumman in Mississippi will alternate completion and delivery of follow-on ships, said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

Eighty-three percent of the work on the DDG-1000 will be performed in Bath, said Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, who called the contract “historic news for BIW and for Maine.” The first ship is expected to be delivered in 2014.

“Once again, BIW is at the forefront of our military’s effort to modernize and face the new challenges of the 21st Century,” Snowe said. “This is the single largest investment ever made in surface Navy capabilities.”

BIW President Dugan Shipway called the contract announcement “a great day” for the both the Navy and BIW.

“I am encouraged about the long-term impact that this award will have on the shipbuiders of BIW, and I know all of them are ready to get on with the business of completing detail design and building this magnificent ship,” he said in a statement.

Rep. Tom Allen, D-Maine, called the contract “great news for BIW and the men and women whose skills, dedication and productivity make BIW the nation’s premier Navy shipbuilder.” On the second DDG -1000 awarded Thursday, Northrup Grumann will perform 34 percent of the work at its shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss., Allen said.

The DDG 1000-class ship will provide advanced land attack capability in support of the ground campaign and contribute naval, joint or combined battle-space dominance in littoral operations, Snowe said.

The ship replaces the DDG-51 Arleigh Burke class of destroyers that BIW has been building since the early 1990s.

The DDG-1000 is 600 feet long, has a top speed of more than 30 knots and carries a crew of 142.

AP-ES-02-15-08 0757EST