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Military

Black Widow Spiders Inhibit Navy Shipbuilding

Those of you with arachnophobia may want to stop reading here. It just so happens that two dozen venomous black widow spiders from California have thrown a wrench in the building of a Navy ship at Bath Iron Works in Maine.

Black widow spiders aren't native to Maine, so shipbuilders knew something was awry when they saw the creepy crawlers in their midst. Turns out a shipment of vertical launch system parts from California was the culprit, according to the Bangor Daily News.

BIW spokesman James DeMartini tells the Bangor Daily News the infestation is unprecedented:

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An exterminator was called in and the workers at the shipyard say they haven't seen a black widow since.

Bath Iron Works is currently in the process of building the Arleigh Burke guided-missile destroyer the USS Michael Murphy. The ship is named after Micheal Murphy, a Navy SEAL posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions in Afghanistan. Murphy was first member of the Navy to be awarded the Medal of Honor since Vietnam.