A $6.6bn yard split between navy and private money

Officials said the new factory, to be named Arsenal Two, will build torpedo tubes and other sections of Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarines. Rapid ship construction is a priority for the Trump administration, which has promoted a coming naval "golden fleet". Trump told the audience that US taxpayers would "receive a 40% stake" in the shipyard, though it is unclear what he meant, including whether the US government is taking an equity share as it has in some other firms.

The $6.6bn total draws on two funding streams:

• •$2.9bn from the US navy
• •$3.7bn in private funding

The donor behind the owner

Anduril Industries was founded by Palmer Luckey, a major GOP campaign fundraiser. He has hosted campaign fundraisers for at least 20 Republican politicians, including Trump, according to reporting published in August, and has given $5.9m to Republican causes since 2017. Last week, defense secretary Pete Hegseth named Luckey, a vocal backer of autonomous warfare, as an adviser to the Pentagon's recently launched Project Meridien, which is tasked with studying the future of warfare.

At the Maryland event, Trump called Luckey "a friend of mine" and a "brilliant guy". Luckey was not at the event.

Navy praise for a partner new to submarines

Acting navy secretary Hung Cao described the plant as a partnership between the navy and Anduril that breaks through bureaucratic red tape. The praise was extraordinary given the company's lack of any history in submarine-building. Cao promised the sailors seated in front of him that Anduril would be making these systems for them, and repeatedly embraced Trump's new term for artificial intelligence, calling it "super intelligence". In a warning to adversaries, Cao said:

Anduril has manufactured smaller unmanned maritime systems but will not say how many have been deployed, and the firm has never before played any known role in the highly specialized manufacture of manned submarines.

Sailors rerouted from their trip home

Dozens of uniformed sailors from the USS Billings, a shallow water combat ship, mingled with officials at the dusty industrial site. A naval specialist at the rally said he wanted to see the president but was more anxious to get home after deployment in the Caribbean; the ship had been scheduled to return home to Florida but was re-routed to the event.

Anduril has said the operation will not be ready to produce ship parts until 2030.