Blue Water Autonomy
About
About Blue Water Autonomy
Blue Water Autonomy is developing steel, ocean-going unmanned vessels rather than adapting small coastal craft. Its first announced platform, Liberty Class, is a 67.7-metre medium USV with a published 10,700-nautical-mile range, 25-knot top speed, capacity for six 40-foot-equivalent containers and Level 4 navigation and engine-room autonomy. A modular mission architecture is intended to support payload changes and later hardware or software upgrades.
The company is scaling through established U.S. shipyards and maritime suppliers instead of a single vertically integrated yard. Its founders combine Navy operations, warehouse robotics and defence-manufacturing experience, and the company had raised $64 million in disclosed equity funding by August 2025. The July 2026 NAVOCEANO selection gives Blue Water a two-year route to compete for open-ocean mapping task orders in the Indian and Pacific basins; the $40 million figure is a shared contract ceiling, not booked Blue Water revenue.
Articles
Products
- Liberty Class
Liberty Class
Supply
Supply chain relationships
- United States Navy
Outbound - Equipment - Blue Water Autonomy supplies long-endurance autonomous surface vessels and mapping services for U.S. Navy seafloor-mapping IDIQ
Source
Funding
- 2025-08-26 - Series A - $50M - Blue Water Autonomy raises $50m Series A led by GV
Blue Water Autonomy raised a $50 million Series A led by GV to build and deploy its first long-range autonomous ship and expand its supplier base. - source: prnewswire.com
- 2025-04-11 - Seed - $14M - Blue Water Autonomy emerges from stealth with $14m seed round
Blue Water Autonomy emerged from stealth with $14 million in seed funding to expand engineering, accelerate salt-water testing and integrate mission payloads. - source: prnewswire.com
Investors
- Eclipse - Participant - Unknown - 2 funding events - repeat backer - first seen 2025-04-11 - latest 2025-08-26
- Impatient Ventures - Participant - VC - 2 funding events - repeat backer - first seen 2025-04-11 - latest 2025-08-26
- GV - Lead - Unknown - 1 funding event - first seen 2025-08-26
- Riot - Participant - Unknown - 1 funding event - first seen 2025-08-26
- Riot Ventures - Participant - VC - 1 funding event - first seen 2025-04-11
Team
- Rylan Hamilton - CEO & Co-Founder - Leads Blue Water's strategy and brings direct experience in naval engineering, large-scale robot deployment and commercializing autonomous systems.
- Austin Gray - CSO & Co-Founder - Leads company strategy with operational naval-intelligence and defence-manufacturing experience relevant to fleet requirements and supplier execution.
Timeline
Events
- 2026-07-30 - Contract Award - Blue Water Autonomy joins $40m NAVOCEANO ocean-survey IDIQ
The contract has a $40 million combined ceiling; Blue Water's minimum guarantee is $10,000, and additional revenue depends on competed task orders. NAVOCEANO can issue work for international waters across the Indian Ocean and Pacific basins during the August 2026–July 2028 ordering period. The small-business competition received nine offers and produced six awardees; no survey task order was disclosed with Blue Water's selection.
Source - 2026-05-07 - Partnership - Blue Water Autonomy adds manufacturing partners for Liberty Class production
Tulip supplies the manufacturing-execution software used to coordinate production-floor workflows. Caterpillar Defense and Precise Power Systems support marine propulsion and containerized autonomous engine modules. Valstad supplies modular structural-panel kits and robotic fabrication cells for distributed ship production.
Source - 2026-02-11 - Product Launch - Blue Water Autonomy introduces 190-foot Liberty Class autonomous ship
The published design pairs a Damen Stan Patrol 6009 hull with more than 10,000 nautical miles of range and over 150 metric tons of payload capacity. Construction was scheduled to begin at Conrad Shipyard in March 2026, with the first vessel targeted for completion later that year. Blue Water described missile, sensor and logistics payloads as planned mission configurations.
Source - 2025-08-26 - Funding - Blue Water Autonomy raises $50m Series A led by GV
Eclipse, Riot Ventures and Impatient Ventures joined the round as existing investors. The financing brought total disclosed funding to $64 million. Blue Water said it had completed on-water engineering tests and begun purchasing long-lead material from more than 50 selected suppliers.
Source - 2025-04-11 - Funding - Blue Water Autonomy emerges from stealth with $14m seed round
Eclipse, Riot Ventures and Impatient Ventures provided the disclosed seed financing. The company had begun salt-water testing and developed concept ship designs within its first year. Funding was allocated to engineering growth, vessel testing and payload integration for U.S. Navy applications.
Source
Relations
Relationships
- Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO)
Navoceano Idiq Awardee - Blue Water Autonomy is one of six NAVOCEANO IDIQ awardees eligible to compete for seafloor-mapping task orders; $40M is the combined ceiling.
- United States Navy
Uncrewed Ocean Survey Customer - The U.S. Navy selected Blue Water Autonomy for an IDIQ covering long-endurance USV seafloor mapping.
Context
Market context
Blue Water Autonomy builds long-endurance autonomous ships for U. S. naval and open-ocean missions. Its 67. 7-metre Liberty Class combines a steel hull, modular payload space and Level 4 navigation and machinery autonomy. The company is an awardee on a U. Navy ocean-survey contract vehicle.
Commercial
- Blue Water Autonomy joins $40m NAVOCEANO ocean-survey IDIQ
2026-07-30 · Order / contract · Blue Water Autonomy was selected as one of six small-business awardees on a two-year U.S. Navy IDIQ for high-resolution seafloor mapping with long-endurance unmanned surface vessels.
Source