Abstract : A cross-section of the United States shipbuilding industry, including shipyards, ship design agents, classification societies, and foundries, is interviewed with the objective of establishing the state-of-the-art in stern frame and hawsepipe design and construction techniques. The findings from the interviews are evaluated to determine different, more productive stern frame and hawsepipe configurations for single screw vessels in three recommended sizes most representative of the ships being constructed now in U.S. shipyards or contemplated for construction in the future. For each of the three vessel sizes, alternative designs and producibility analyses, including cost estimates, are prepared incorporating the most feasible stern frame and hawsepipe configurations. A comparative analysis is performed to establish the most productive designs for each component.