Rylan Hamilton

US shipbuilding actually builds A LOT!! But - American yards focus on smaller vessels, not the types Navies want or the type to carry the bulk of international trade. This is a simple condition of the Jones Act: US yards focus on building vessels that stay in US waters. With our Navy now needing more ships, they have to ask for what our industrial base can build. Simultaneously, with autonomous designs maturing rapidly, 100-200 foot ships make a ton of sense. This form factor is just big enough to be ocean-going, to sail alongside our blue water Navy, but just small enough to be produced en masse at many shipyards. Shipyard capacity - and autonomous ship designs - in the 100-200' range offers the Navy the only fast way to get more tonnage out into PACOM and CENTCOM.

We were honored to be joined by @rylanhamilton, Founder and CEO of Blue Water Autonomy (@BlueWaterShips), on Ep18 of Forged in America (@ForgedUSAPod). The episode is especially topical given current events in Iran, as Blue Water designs and builds autonomous ships for the U.S.

A Privately Funded Autonomous Warship Puts a New Navy Shipbuilding Model to the Test gcaptain.com/liberty-class-…

This is what we're building - the Liberty Ship of the 21st Century ⚓️🚀

🚨🚀 Shipbuilding Product Launch 🚨🚀 @BlueWaterShips is about to show the world the technology we’ve been building. This will not be a normal product launch - because “shipbuilding + product launch” ≠ normal words. 🛑 Before we get into what the ship is, what it looks like, and what it does, there is something very unique I’d like to share about the how. We developed it with private capital, as a tech product. This approach means: ⏩ Speed: Engineering feasibility drives schedule (not bureaucratic programmatic schedules) 💸 Cost Control: We aren’t building on a time and material contract where we’re paid more to work more, or order more expensive parts. 🤖 Product Velocity: This product will just keep updating and getting better, rather than trying to precisely answer a set of static requirements. So what’s the big deal? This product mindset is normal in consumer tech… but in shipbuilding —> unheard of. 🤔 The most important reaction when you see the cool product is not “oh that’s a cool ship” but rather “what process lets us achieve that?” @USNavy's new open for business approach, explained at the Demand Signal road show, allows it to buy product developed privately, rather than churn for decades on T&M R&D. The business, finance, and acquisition strategy for building technology matters. A lot. 🛡️ 🇺🇸 We must relentlessly continue our defense acquisition reform quest to get commercial product into warfighter hands.

Wishing you the happiest of holidays from everyone at Blue Water Autonomy. Special thoughts for the warfighters and builders grinding over the holidays. We’re thankful that you have the watch.

🧵Today's announcement that America is building #battleships has big implications. Most analysis is focusing on the ship's size - and size matters. But only software defines. POTUS reminded us that software will be a "big factor" too, at the very heart of a digital ship 1/

We're proud to be featured in today's @nytimes coverage of young Americans trying to fix a broken military - it starts with us. "When veterans land in promising companies — or start their own — it’s not just good for them. It’s also good for America. @rylanhamilton and

We have a 165 ton autonomous test vessel at sea. When I said "big things are underway" I meant that we have a MASSIVE robot underway. This is what it takes to test ship-scale hardware.

Today, a peak behind the curtain at what we’ve been building. At Blue Water, our focus is the sharpest weapon. And our focus is autonomous ships. We can’t rely on simulation or speedboats to test ship-scale hardware - so we built a ship-scale autonomous test vessel. Now, we unveil her. (Check the 🔥 exclusive coverage with @BusinessInsider @byjepstein) “Ironsides,” has some fun attributes that give our tech realistic testing and our engineering team velocity. Here are 5️⃣ of our favorites: 1️⃣ End-to-end hardware in the loop testing from propeller spinning in the water to radar turning on the mast 2️⃣ Ship-scale machinery so heavy it would sink a speedboat 3️⃣ Platform-level autonomy running the whole vessel from engine room to navigation 4️⃣ Reconfigurable, easy-access design - we assembled Ironsides from 20,000 lb floating lego pieces - so we can swap hardware in and out. (Just like software!) 5️⃣ A realistic saltwater environment with sea-spray, seagulls, and savage weather. Last week, we welcomed Congressman @WilliamKeating @JakeAuch to our New Bedford, MA test site to unveil Ironsides and share what we’ve been building. We’re especially grateful for the pro-business leadership of Mayor @JonMitchellNB & Sec. Economic Development @epaley. But we didn’t stop there. Our badass team of operators and engineers is obsessed with tech, safety, and mission. They're at sea right now, testing (pic). Our tech is forged by the sea, just like our Navy. Let’s build.

🇺🇸 This morning, some great American experts sat down in the United States Senate to talk shipbuilding. @mercoglianos @ShipbuildersUSA Here’s what they said - it’s not all obvious - it's a unique moment in American shipbuilding: Reconciliation brought key investments, but now it’s time to execute them: ➡️ Navy destroyers and unmanned ships ➡️ Coast Guard icebreakers ➡️ Oilers to keep the fleet steaming A mistake in the 80s came up again and again: shifting all our capacity to Naval shipbuilding gutted the commercial market, and pushed it overseas. This mistake became fatal when the Berlin Wall fell, taking defense budgets with it. 📈 Revitalizing our COMMERCIAL capability & capacity is now key. Shipbuilding ≠ just the Navy. For further decisive action, we need three ingredients: 1️⃣ White House leadership 2️⃣ Appropriated dollars 3️⃣ Legislative action Matthew Paxton's testimony anchored on three points that explain the state of commercial US shipbuilding: 1️⃣ Emphasis on the Jones Act & domestic shipbuilding 2️⃣ The global playing field is NOT level 3️⃣ To strengthen, a national maritime strategy must be codified in law ➡️ the Ships Act must be passed. And we’ll need more than just the Ships Act - it is a blueprint, but only a starting gun Action Plan: 📈 Build and sustain demand signal for ships 💰 Get capital off the sidelines (nice call out for @BlueWaterShips & @Saronic) 🤖 Use technology - one of the advantages we have ✍ Enact and strengthen the OBVIOUS policy levers: - small shipyard grants - 25% tax credit - workforce programs ➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️ level the playing field Another great point was that specialization sells: 🇩🇪 German firms excel at producing propellers and engines 🇫🇮 Fins build great icebreakers 🇮🇹 Italians build cruise ships 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 🇦🇺 In AUKUS, highly specialized nuclear naval capability needs collaboration between allies to produce efficiently. 55 years ago - the last time we had real shipbuilding focused legislation - the Merchant Marine Act passed Congress. Today, with or without federal leadership, Shipyards like @SnowAndCompany are showing what it means to rebuild the shipbuilding workforce. Tuuli Snow told a touching story of a Ukrainian refugee reaching out to apply for a job - he could not speak English, but he could weld. Despite doubt, he crushed his welding test and today leads a team of Russian and Ukrainian refugee fabricators and welders. “Shipbuilding is more than an industry. It’s a strategic capability” Let's rebuild it ⚓🏗️ 🏛️ 🏭 ⚓ @johnkonrad @JerryHendrixII @michaelgwaltz @SeanPlankey @kristinawong @SusanSakmar @SamuelFByers @StrongerNavy @BDHerzinger @DustinWalper @mintzmyer @HunterStires @brentdsadler @ElbridgeColby

American Naval Autonomy, Scaling Globally . 🌊 @BlueWaterShips founder @RylanHamilton joined GV Managing Partner @DaveMuni to discuss his vision for autonomous maritime technology and how a new partnership with Conrad Shipyard is opening the door to global growth.

@VentureFizz @BlueWaterShips Thanks for having me on episode 400!

Milestone Episode - 400!!! Features @rylanhamilton , CEO & Co-Founder @BlueWaterShips venturefizz.com/insights/episo… - we cover Rylan's entrepreneurial journey across multiple startups, all the details about Blue Water, and more!

We’re proud to announce that four incredible leaders have joined Blue Water’s inaugural advisory board. These gentlemen have: ⚓️ Led the Navy’s surface and unmanned fleets 🏭 Built and acquired the ships and technology our sailors fight with 🇺🇸 Shaped the companies and policies that are driving our industrial base into the future. Thanks for taking a bet on Blue Water - Michael Stewart - Roy Kitchener - Stephen Rodriguez - Tom Anderson Together, it’s time to build some autonomous ships.

RT @BlueWaterShips: 🇺🇸⚓️ The time has come to unlock the power, the potential, and the capacity of America’s shipyards. Today, we announc…

Absolutely fascinating work you're doing for the US Military. Please come back when you're ready to show us the real thing!

@LizClaman Can't wait to come back and show you and your audience what we're building.

@LizClaman interviewed me on @FoxBusiness with the title: US can’t match China in shipbuilding, must ‘out-compete’ in tech. She's spot on. At @BlueWaterShips, we're focused on the tech and an easy to produce, autonomous ship that supports multiple missions. Future naval fleets will be a mix of manned and unmanned platforms, and we're sprinting to deliver on the latter.

Last night we thanked Senators @CaptMarkKelly and @SenToddYoung for their leadership in catalyzing shipbuilding. Let’s build. 🇺🇸