A shipyard on the Mississippi Gulf Coast has been awarded a $453 million contract to provide support to U.S. Navy cruisers and destroyers.

The Department of Defense contract for Ingalls Shipuilding calls for planning yard design services for existing Ticonderoga-class cruisers and Spruance-class destroyers, the Mississippi Press reported.

Post-delivery support includes fleet modernization program planning, design engineering and modeling, logistics support, long-lead-time material support, and preventative and planned maintenance system development.

“We take pride in not only building state-of-the-art warships for the U.S. Navy, but also in caring for them while they are in active service,” Ingalls president Brian Cuccias said in a statement. “We look forward to utilizing our talent and resources to complete the work needed to return these cruisers to the fleet — modernized and fully capable.”

Ingalls was the only shipyard included in the contract, so the work will take place almost exclusively in Pascagoula and involve the shipyard’s designers, engineers, logisticians, planners, program managers and others.

Ingalls is one of the largest private employers in Mississippi, and some of its workers commute from Alabama and other places.