WASHINGTON, D.C. — The years-long battle over Alabama-built littoral combat ships continues to wage, but new insight from the Secretary of the Navy might lead to a breakthrough.

During a hearing held by the Senate Armed Services Committee this week, Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), inquired Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus about the needs of his branch. Secretary Mabus testified that the Navy still requires 52 littoral combat ships, a number determined by an assessment performed in 2014.

The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) is a class of vessels used in operations close to shore (the littoral zone). They have been compared to corvettes, built to swiftly move in fights with other vessels, as well as to hunt and destroy enemy submarines and mines.

Many of them are being built by 4,000 Alabamians at Austal USA in Mobile.

Alabama’s U.S. senators have frequently defended the ship-building program from attempts by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain to scale it back.

Senator McCain has decried the LCS program as “shameful” on the Senate floor and has constantly fought for the Pentagon to cut it, in spite of Navy leadership insisting they need it. McCain was pleased late last year when the Obama administration’s efforts to shrink the military hit the LCS program.

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Secretary of Defense Ash Carter directed the US Navy to slash its previous order of ships by twelve and reduce its annual orders by tho-thirds. The Navy had previously planned to annually purchase three LCS over the next four years, and ultimately purchase 52 ships total, the number that Secretary Mabus testified that the Navy still needs.

The Navy’s stated goal for years has been to build up its capacity to 308 ships. There are currently 272 ships in the fleet, and Navy advocates on Capitol Hill and in the Pentagon argue that cutting the LCS procurement would make the Navy’s capacity goal impossible to achieve.

The LCS’s saving grace may be that Obama — and by default, Secretary Carter — is term limited and will be leaving office early next year.

Sessions noted this week that the production cost of the LCS is down and the production speed has gone up. However, the senator fears that decreased production will increase the cost per ship. Mabus confirmed his fear and stated that decreased production would almost certainly lead to a higher unit price.

The entirety of the Senate exchange can be seen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2owDBw5hec&feature=youtu.be