MARINETTE (AP) -- Congress has approved the Navy's plan to buy 20 advanced combat ships, a move expected to create thousands of jobs in Wisconsin, Michigan and Alabama.

The plan was included in the budget bill that President Barack Obama signed into law Wednesday. It authorizes the Navy to buy 10 warships each from Marinette Marine Corp. in Marinette, Wis., and Austal USA in Mobile, Ala.

Marinette Marine has said the new contract meant it would grow from about 800 to 1,800 workers within five years. Several hundred of those jobs would be in Michigan, as Marinette is on the Wisconsin-Michigan border.

Both companies will be expected to produce two ships per yearfor five years. The prices are capped at $480 million per ship.
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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, Wisconsin and Austal USA in Mobile, Alabama.

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.

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