PORTLAND, Maine — The two shipyards building the Navy's next-generation destroyer held private ceremonies last week signaling the start of construction, but the future remains cloudy for the stealthy warship that doubled in price long before shipbuilders began bending steel.

Funding has been allocated for the DDG-1000 Zumwalt that's being built at General Dynamics' Bath Iron Works in Maine and for a second ship at Northrop Grumman's shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss.

But funding for a third ship is still in question, and the future also is uncertain for the Navy's long-term plans for future destroyer purchases vital to keeping the two Navy shipbuilders busy.

Deep cuts to the Navy's six major shipyards, which employ 54,000 workers, could fly in the face of President Obama's economic goals. Already, there's a lobbying effort afoot to spare the Air Force F-22 Raptor program, which supporters say provides 95,000 American jobs.

"It'll be hard for the Obama administration to ignore the implications of the shipbuilding programs because there's no clearer connection between jobs and the program than in these shipbuilding (projects)," said Jay Korman, defense analyst at The Avascent Group.

But others see potential deep cuts.

Paul Nisbet of JSA Research says he believes the DDG-1000 program, slashed from its original goal of a couple dozen ships, could get sacked after the first two are built. He also questions whether the Navy wants to build more of the current-generation Aegis destroyers simply to keep shipbuilders busy.

The small-but-speedy littoral combat ship, which is a priority for the Navy, is being built at smaller shipyards in Wisconsin, Alabama and Louisiana. The Navy wants 55 of them, but there are no plans to build any at Bath Iron Works or Northrop Grumman's shipyard in Pascagoula.

All of the uncertainty gives shipbuilders little to cheer about.

Last month, the shipyard laid off 179 workers and there have been smaller layoffs over the past year.

"We're looking at cutbacks every week, and it puts a damper on the morale," said Stoney Dion, a heavy-equipment operator. "People don't know this week if they're going to be working next week."

The DDG-1000 features composite materials, an electric-drive propulsion and an unconventional wave-piercing hull. Displacing about 14,500 tons, the ship is 50 percent larger than the latest destroyer but will have half the crew thanks to automated systems.

All of those bells and whistles, and the ship's bulk, caused the price to grow. Officially, the ships are supposed to cost roughly double the $1.3 billion price of a Burke destroyer. But estimates for the first two ships now run as high as $5 billion.