Saronic Technologies commemorated the keel laying of its first 150-foot Marauder vessel at the company’s recently acquired shipyard in Franklin, Louisiana, on August 22.
Saronic press release
This milestone marks the official start of production for a new class of fully autonomous ships that will shape the future of maritime operations for the U.S., its allies, and commercial customers around the world.
Earlier this year, Saronic acquired the Franklin shipyard — formerly operated by Gulf Craft — as the central hub for prototyping and rapidly producing Marauder and larger Autonomous Surface Vessels (ASVs) at scale. Since then, the company has doubled the shipyard’s workforce, made significant investments in infrastructure and employee experience, and begun modernizing the facility to support its long-term vision for high-volume autonomous shipbuilding.
“The keel laying of our first Marauder marks a significant milestone in autonomous maritime capability,” said Dino Mavrookas, Co-Founder and CEO of Saronic. “It’s not just about building a ship — it’s about rethinking how we deliver scalable, mission-ready platforms that meet the urgent needs of today’s maritime landscape and help us rapidly close the shipbuilding gap with China. We’re proud to do that here in Franklin, where we’ve found the ideal foundation of a skilled workforce, industrial infrastructure, and a community that believes in the future we’re building.”
The first vessel of its size designed from the keel up to be fully autonomous, Saronic’s Marauder represents significant advancement in maritime capability. The autonomous ship can support a wide range of missions and operational needs, offering a payload capacity of 40 metric tons and the ability to travel up to 3,500 nautical miles or loiter for more than 30 days. Leveraging disciplined engineering, vertical integration, and domestic supply chains, Marauder delivers advanced capabilities for naval and commercial customers at a dramatically lower cost than legacy manned solutions.
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