BATH – The year-end spending package that’ll be debated in Congress includes $1 billion for another new destroyer to be built at Bath Iron Works, Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King said Wednesday.

The Navy said this month that it was taking steps to build the destroyer after announcing an initial procurement contract for an amphibious transport dock to be built at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Mississippi.

A crowd watches as the Zumwalt launches from Bath Iron Works on Dec. 7 for sea trials and heads down the Kennebec River to the ocean at Popham Beach. Gordon Chibroski/Staff Photographer

But the Navy said the extra Bath-built ship is subject to congressional authorization and funding.

The 2016 omnibus bill before Congress that includes proposed discretionary spending for the current fiscal year aims to get the process moving, the senators said.

Collins, R-Maine, said the destroyers are the workhorses of the Navy, and that more of them are needed.

“The equation is simple: Fewer ships means less presence, less security at home, and less security around the world. I am so pleased that after many long hours of negotiations, this $1 billion in funding was included in the final omnibus bill,” she said.

The Bath Iron Works completed seven days of sea trials this week on a Navy destroyer to be called the USS Zumwalt.

An extra ship would be welcome news at the shipyard, a General Dynamics subsidiary, where it’ll add to a backlog for 6,000 shipbuilders. Bath Iron Works will be bidding on Coast Guard cutters and more destroyers in the new year.

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