Overview
- Secretary of the Navy John Phelan terminated the last four Constellation-class ships that had not started construction, keeping USS Constellation and USS Congress on the ways but under review.
- Leaders cast the decision as a fleet-growth accelerant with “speed to delivery” as the new organizing principle and a fleet design review shaping follow-on small surface combatants.
- The Navy plans to ask Congress to reappropriate unspent frigate funds toward ships that can be produced faster at Marinette, with officials pointing to Landing Ship Medium and larger unmanned surface vessels as candidates.
- GAO-reported design instability from U.S. changes to the FREMM drove weight growth, a roughly three-year slip to a 2029 first delivery, and about $1.5 billion in added cost, with about $2 billion already spent from $7.6 billion appropriated for six hulls.
- Fincantieri says the framework preserves the Marinette workforce through indemnities and expected orders for amphibious, icebreaking, and special-mission ships, as analysts warn the truncation complicates plans to grow hull numbers against China.