Gibbs & Cox is an American

naval architecture Naval architecture, or naval engineering, is an engineering discipline incorporating elements of mechanical, electrical, electronic, software and safety engineering as applied to the engineering design process, shipbuilding, maintenance, and op ...

firm that specializes in designing surface warships. Founded in 1922 in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, Gibbs & Cox is now headquartered in

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the nati ...

. The firm has offices in New York City;

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

;

Newport News, Virginia Newport News () is an Independent city (United States), independent city in southeastern Virginia, United States. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the List of c ...

;

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

; and

New Orleans, LA New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

. In 2003, more than 150 warships built to the firm's designs, including 60 percent of the U.S. Navy's surface combatant fleet, were on active duty in nearly 20 navies.

History

The firm was founded as "Gibbs Brothers" by self-taught naval architect William Francis Gibbs and his brother Frederic H. Gibbs. The name was changed when architect Daniel H. Cox of Cox & Stevens joined the firm in 1929. In 1931, Gibbs & Cox designed the MV ''Savarona'', a large

luxury yacht A superyacht or megayacht is a large and luxurious pleasure vessel. There are no official or agreed upon definitions for such yachts, but these terms are regularly used to describe professionally crewed motor or sailing yachts, ranging from t ...

. According to company officials, more than 70 percent of U.S. tonnage launched during World War II was built to Gibbs & Cox designs. Ship types included destroyers, LST landing craft, minesweepers, tankers, cruisers,

Liberty Ship Liberty ships were a ship class, class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Although British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost cons ...

s, and a variety of conversions. In 1950, Gibbs & Cox designed the , the largest liner ever built in the United States and the fastest liner built anywhere. On May 7, 2021,

Leidos Leidos Holdings, Inc. is an American defense company, defense, Aerospace manufacturer, aviation, information technology, and biomedical research company headquartered in Reston, Virginia, that provides scientific, engineering, systems integrati ...

completed acquisition of Gibbs & Cox for $380 million. Gibbs & Cox operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary and is combined with Leidos’ maritime systems division. On March 4, 2025, the

Chinese Ministry of Commerce The Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) is an executive department of the State Council of the People's Republic of China responsible for formulating policies on foreign trade, export and import regulations, foreign direct investments, consumer prot ...

placed 15 U.S. entities (including Gibbs & Cox) on its export control list, barring the export of dual-use commodities to that business.

Ships designed

Among the ship classes designed by Gibbs & Cox are: * ''Arleigh Burke''-class destroyer * Captain-class frigate * ''EC2-S-C1''-class transport ("Liberty ships") * ''Freedom''-class Littoral Combat Ship * ''Gleaves''-class destroyer * ''Mahan''-class destroyer * ''Oliver Hazard Perry''-class frigate * ''Cheng Kung''-class frigate * ''Tacoma''-class frigate * Wind-class icebreaker Among the individual ships designed by Gibbs & Cox are: * SS ''America'' * MV ''Chinook'' * SS ''Malolo'' * SS ''Santa Paula'' * SS ''Santa Rosa'' * SS ''United States''

Model shop

From 1939 until 1962, the firm operated a model shop that produced high-quality ship models that are considered among "the very finest examples of the steel ship modeler's art ever to be seen." Of these, the most expensive and elaborate was a 1/24-scale cutaway model of the . This model, which is over 16 feet long, shows the complete inner structure on the starboard, and the exterior on the port. Another notable model is the as she appeared on September 2, 1945, at 9:02 in the morning, the time of the Japanese surrender. This 1/48-scale ship required 77,000 man-hours to construct, and is as of September 2012 on display at the Navy Museum,

Washington Navy Yard The Washington Navy Yard (WNY) is a ceremonial and administrative center for the United States Navy, located in the federal national capital city of Washington, D.C. (federal District of Columbia). It is the oldest shore establishment / base of ...

, Washington, DC.

Recent contracts

CG(X) The CG(X) program, also known as the Next Generation Cruiser program, was a United States Navy research program to develop a replacement vessel for its 22 s. Original plans were for 18–19 ships, based on the 14,500 ton with additional ba ...

: "Awarded a Naval Sea Systems Command multi-year contract for program management support, technical management support, ship design support and engineering" in partnership with Alion Science and Technology * ''Freedom-''class

Littoral Combat Ship A littoral combat ship (LCS) is either of two classes of relatively small surface vessels designed for littoral warfare in near-shore operations by the United States Navy. It was "envisioned to be a networked, agile, stealthy surface comba ...

: design and support of and subsequent ships. * ''Constellation''-class frigate: On 30 April 2020, it was announced that Fincantieri Marinette Marine's FREMM multipurpose frigate had won the contest and was awarded a $795 million contract for detailed design and construction of the lead ship, with options for nine additional ships. *

DDG(X) The DDG(X) or Next-Generation Guided-Missile Destroyer program of the United States Navy aims to develop a class of surface combatants to succeed 22 Flight II s and 28 Flight I/II s. The program is the culmination of the Large Surface Combatant ...

: Design and engineering support contract awarded in 2022.

References

External links

Gibbs & Cox Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibbs and Cox Design companies disestablished in 1922 Engineering companies of the United States 1922 establishments in New York (state) American companies established in 1922 American naval architects Companies based in Arlington County, Virginia 2021 mergers and acquisitions American corporate subsidiaries Naval architecture companies