The USNS Washington Chambers. The christening and launch is expected this September. (Credit: NASSCO)

NASSCO-General Dynamics warned something like this might be coming. The last major shipbuilder on the West Coast just laid off 290 of 4,100 workers. 270 subcontractors also lost their jobs.

NASSCO is one of San Diego County’s 20 largest employers.

“We were as flexible as we could be, moving people around,” president Fred Harris told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “We wanted to keep as many skilled men and women as we can.”

The Union-Tribune article reminds us there's always been fluctuations in ship construction and repair orders. Over the last decade alone, the size of NASSCO's workforce ranged from roughly 7,800 to less than 4,000 today.