Damen and Blue Water Autonomy licence Liberty Class autonomous vessel

Damen has agreed a licence for its Liberty class ship, which Blue Water Autonomy will use to build an autonomous vessel for the US Navy. The 60-metre hull will provide an ocean-going capability, which is a growing area within maritime autonomy. 

By Sam Cranny-Evans, published on February 12, 2026. 

BLUF: 

• Blue Water Autonomy to start production on an autonomous Liberty class vessel in March 2026. It will be based on the Damen Stan Patrol 6009 hull design. 
• Much of naval autonomy so far has focused on smaller platforms, not drastically different to a speed boat. But for blue ocean operations, a much larger hull is needed, which increases costs significantly. 

Damen and Blue Water Autonomy have announced the licence agreement that will allow production of the first Liberty class autonomous vessel to begin in March this year. The February 11 press release explains that production will be carried out at the Conrad shipyard and that the first vessel is expected to be finished by 2027.

The Liberty Class has been co-designed by Damen and Blue Water Autonomy, and is based on Damen’s Stan Patrol 6009 hull. It will have a range of 10,000 nautical miles, and more than 150 tonnes of payload. The payload is key, it will allow the ship to carry sensors, missiles, or act as a logistics platform. 

Blue Water Autonomy picked the design because of its axe bow, which is very much what it sounds like. This allows for a “cleaner wave re-entry” according to Damen, and much less slamming because it “slices cleanly through waves.” This is an important requirement for autonomous and crewed vessels, but especially so when they need to cross an ocean. 

What’s next for the Liberty class?

The Conrad Shipyards in Louisiana will handle the first build, which is privately funded by Blue Water Autonomy, the press release states. Once that vessel is complete, the company plans to increase production to between 10 and 20 vessels per year. 

“By adapting a proven hull and re-engineering it for unmanned operations, we’re delivering a vessel that can operate for extended periods without crew while being produced at a pace the Navy urgently needs,” Rylan Hamilton, CEO of Blue Water Autonomy said. The name is a reference to the Liberty Ships of World War 2. 

The Liberty Ships were based on a British design, and built to be standardised – much like Blue Water Autonomy is doing with the autonomous Liberty Class. Standardisation meant they could be produced at shipyards across America, and more than 2,000 were built between 1941 and 45. They were used for convoys, replacing some of the larger merchant vessels lost to German U-boats. 

The internal workings of the Liberty class have been completely redesigned by Blue Water Autonomy, the press release states. This extends from the propulsion, which is described as “fault-tolerant” through to the electrical systems. 

However, the press release is also clear that this venture is privately funded following recent directives from the US Department of War. It will be entered into the US Navy’s Modular Attack Surface Craft (MASC) programme, where it will presumably compete with designs from Saronic and HII. 

Saronic is developing a vessel called Marauder, with a length of 45 metres, while HII is working on ROMULUS with Sydney-based Incat Crowther. ROMULUS will have a length of approximately 58 metres, making it slightly smaller than the Liberty Class. All three are using internal funding for the development process and betting big on contracts from the Navy. 

Calibre comment: Will autonomous vessels solve the big problems?

As we have written numerous times on this site, there is a lot of expectation being placed on autonomous platforms. From the land to the air and sea, they are repeatedly positioned as the answer to a given force’s big problems. Usually, that problem is that there are not enough of the crewed equivalent. It follows that if you don’t have enough ships to compete with China, building more that are cheaper and easier will address that delta. Equally, if there aren’t enough jets for air superiority, build autonomous ones, they will be cheaper and easier to use than crewed ones. Not enough artillery to resist an invasion from your neighbours? Build autonomous ones and you can have as much artillery as you like. 

That is the logic, at least. But the integration hurdles are gargantuan, and rarely appreciated. They range from hurdles that are largely administrative – is a vessel like the Liberty Class a ship or a weapon if it is armed? Through to the technological – how do we make sure it can safely navigate the world’s biggest and busiest sea lanes? These are not simple problems to solve in large organisations like the US Navy. This means that whilst the promise is clear, the route to delivery and in-service integration is less so. In the meantime, they do not solve the short-term big problems of crewing, filling skilled positions like sonar operators, and having enough missiles to last more than a week. 

If you would like to read more on the possible competitors for the MASC programme, as well as other autonomous vessel efforts, please do check out the links below. It really helps us out, so thank you. 

• Saronic acquires Gulf Craft to accelerate autonomous shipbuilding – Calibre Defence 
• HII’s ROMULUS USV progresses – Calibre Defence 
• Thales delivers MMCM USV to French Navy – Calibre Defence 
• Project CABOT, transforming ASW for the Royal Navy – Calibre Defence 

The lead image is a rendering of the expected final design for the Liberty Class. Credit: Damen.