Category: Fincantieri

Fincantieri Awarded $526 Million Contract for Fourth Constellation-Class Frigate for U.S. Navy

The U.S. Department of Defense has announced a $526 million contract for a fourth Constellation-class frigate for the U.S. Navy at Fincantieri Marinette Marine. Fincantieri received the contract for the…

The U.S. Department of Defense has announced a $526 million contract for a fourth Constellation-class frigate for the U.S. Navy at Fincantieri Marinette Marine. Fincantieri received the contract for the...

Major Shift Comes to Fincantieri Marinette Marine as Freedom LCS Line Ends

MARINETTE, Wis. – Three ships moored on the Wisconsin side of the Menominee River mark the end of a 20-year-long era of shipbuilding for the United States Navy. The trio of Lockheed Martin Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ships will leave Fincantieri Marinette Marine and travel through the narrow waterway leading to the Green Bay that feeds […]

Ship sponsor Robyn Modly christens USS Cleveland (LCS-31), launches into the Menominee River. Lockheed Martin Photo

MARINETTE, Wis. – Three ships moored on the Wisconsin side of the Menominee River mark the end of a 20-year-long era of shipbuilding for the United States Navy.

The trio of Lockheed Martin Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ships will leave Fincantieri Marinette Marine and travel through the narrow waterway leading to the Green Bay that feeds Lake Michigan so the yard can make room for the U.S. Navy’s new Constellation-class frigates.
After making $300 million of capital investments across Marinette Marine and its nearby sister yard, Bay Shipbuilding, Fincantieri is shifting its focus from the LCS program to building the new frigates.

Still, with the Freedom-class ships on the way out and that capital investment money to expand its space, this small midwestern yard is nearing capacity.

Three frigates are currently under contract and the Navy is preparing for a saw-tooth procurement plan in the coming years. Between building the Connies and Saudi Arabia’s multi-mission surface combatant – which Fincantieri is the subcontractor for under Lockheed Martin – the yard is maxed out. If the U.S. Navy wants to build more than two frigates a year – officials now say four per year is the ultimate goal – the service will need to have a second shipyard bid for the work.
The “shipyard can’t do more than two because I literally run out of room,” Mark Vandroff, Fincantieri Marinette Marine’s chief executive officer, told USNI News in an interview this month at his Wisconsin shipyard.

“If you’re delivering two a year, it’s two on the waterfront, two in the building and then two ships worth of pieces throughout the yard. The yard is full,” he said. “There’s no room to put anything after that. So if the Navy sometime decides that it wants three or four of these a year, they will need to find a second yard, someone else to do that.”

The Navy wants to buy two frigates in Fiscal Year 2024, kicking off a buying scheme that would see the service alternating between one and two ships each year. That means Marinette is averaging 1.5 hulls per year.

“At 1.5, my manning pressure is somewhat less. I still have to grow to get up to 1.5, but the pressure of hiring is a little less at 1.5 than it is at two,” Vandroff said.

Marinette is ramping up its workforce, launching new initiatives to both recruit and keep employees, but like shipbuilders across the country, hiring is the top challenge.

“We need young people in the country that are willing to take good-paying jobs – I mean I pay our skilled tradesmen well compared to the average blue-collar wage here in Wisconsin and the upper peninsula of Michigan. But it’s a fight for talent – it really is. Labor is scarce,” Vandroff said.

Constellation-class Frigate

Rendering of USS Constellation (FFG-62). Fincantieri Image

Two and a half years after the Navy issued the detail design and construction contract for the lead ship in the class, Marinette started fabrication on the future USS Constellation (FFG-62) at the end of August 2022.

The service and Fincanctieri wanted to ensure the design – based on the Italian FREMM multi-mission frigate parent design – was mature before the yard began building the ship.

During that process, Vandroff said a report from Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock concluded the ship was not stiff enough, requiring design changes that ultimately ate down the schedule margin the yard hoped to have for the first-in-class ship.

“We needed to stiffen the ship in certain sea states. You’ve got too much [of] what’s called vertical bending moments.” Vandroff said during an April 13 interview at his office in Marinette.

“We were already into the functional and detail design when that report came from Carderock – something of a surprise because the parent design didn’t really have that.”

Those design changes made the ship heavier, requiring more adjustments because the Navy wanted the frigate to have margin over its service life to add new systems. This caused more delays, as the Navy and Gibbs & Cox looked for places to remove weight to make the ship lighter.

Despite the delays, the yard is still on track to deliver the lead ship in 2026 as planned.

“I would have liked more time and buffer in case things had gone wrong, but we still have an executable plan to get Constellation delivered in 2026,” Vandroff said.

Unlike other U.S. Navy ships – like the Zumwalt-class guided-missile destroyer and the Ford-class aircraft carriers – the Constellation frigates do not contain much in the way of new technologies that could delay the delivery, Vandroff said.

“The ship’s going to have the SPY-6 radar, but that’s being worked out right now on the Flight III. It’s just a cut down version of that. There’s no technology on the ship that I would point to and say, ‘this has never been tried before. We’re not sure if it’s going to work,’” he said.
“The diesel engines, the gas turbine engine, the navigation system – all are being used somewhere in the world right now and in a lot of cases somewhere in the U.S. Navy.”

To eventually build two frigates per year, Fincantieri made several capital investments at the yard in Marinette, including a new building – known as Building 34 – with two bays, built specifically for the Constellation line, that can hold two-and-half ships inside.

The yard is now working on a ship lift to launch the frigates and a new facility to blast and paint a second ship, which it expects to complete by this fall and the end of 2023, respectively.

Marinette also built a new automated panel line it’s currently using for the new frigate. While the shipyard is learning from its Italian parent company about automation, Vandroff says it can only go so far – the shipyard still needs to hire more people. Last April, Marinette had about 900 people working in the yard. Now it has about 1,100.

“That’s good growth, but I need that same growth this year and I need that same growth again next year if we’re going to execute our full book of business on time,” Vandroff said.

“So we’re working with the state, we’re working with recruiters. We’re working with local schools. We’ve got a lot of different programs that are in place. But if I had to pick what my number one challenge is as far as going forward, it’s recruiting and retaining a skilled workforce to build the ships.”

If the Navy puts Marinette on contract to build two frigates per year, its less-populated B shift – which is currently about 10 percent of the approximately 700 Marinette employees and 200 contractors working in the yard during the A shift – would have to become a full shift.

“You have two full shifts working the yard nearly 24 hours a day in order to get to two a year. Absolutely executable. Absolutely doable,” Vandroff said. “It becomes [about] getting and distributing the human capital in order to be able to execute it.”

To that end, Marinette is talking to local high schools and partnering with the nearby technical college to recruit the new talent it needs in the yard to build the frigates.

“If you drive up and down between here and Green Bay and up to Escanaba, you’ll see billboards. You’ll see we’re going into schools with our workforce and holding career days and career fairs. We’ve got partnership agreements with the University of Wisconsin system, with the Wisconsin Technical College, so their junior college system,” Vandroff said.
“We have agreements with them on training, on tuition. So if you want to go to Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, NWTC, and get a welding certificate, between us and the state, you don’t have to pay for that education. You come out with a welding certificate and I hire you immediately as a welder.”

But even once it hires more people, Marinette still can’t build more than two frigates per year, meaning the Navy must turn to a second yard. While Congress, citing design risks, pumped the brakes on the Navy’s plans to have a second shipyard build frigates, officials now say they will need to get a second yard involved. Once the Navy has the technical data package, it could kick off a new competition.
“I think it’s very important … that we could get to the second shipyard and a two-a-year [rate] from each shipyard,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday told the Senate Armed Services Committee this month.

Royal Saudi Navy Multi-Mission Surface Combatant

Artist’s concept of a Lockheed Martin Multi-Mission Surface Combatant.

Four multi-mission surface combatants based on the Littoral Combat Ship design are under construction at Marinette for the Royal Saudi Navy. The combatants are in various stages of construction, with the first hull coming together in Building 10 at the yard.

Lockheed Martin won the $1.96 billion construction contract for the four ships, based on a modified Freedom-class hull, in 2017 as part of the $20 billion Saudi Naval Expansion Program II, or SNEP II.

The SNEP II frigates lose the multi-mission space of a Freedom and will feature 16 Mark 41 Vertical Launch System cells armed with either Raytheon’s SM-2 or Raytheon’s Enhanced SeaSparrow Missiles (ESSM), and an Airbus TRS-4D active electronically scanned array (AESA) air search radar suite.

The first ship is scheduled to deliver this year.

Lockheed Martin pitched the upgunned Freedom design for other small surface combatants, including in 2021 for the Hellenic Navy’s new frigate program. Lockheed lost to France’s Naval Group last year.

Those four combatants are the only ones Marinette can build given its current book of business.

“I would not be able to keep building them and still build the frigate,” Vandroff said of the combatants for Saudi Arabia.

“After the fourth, we’re done,” he continued. “I have no plans to build any more than four multi-mission surface combatants in this shipyard.”

Should the Royal Saudi Navy or another nation receive approval to buy the combatants in a foreign military sale, Lockheed would need to find another yard to build the ships.

Littoral Combat Ship

USS Marinette (LCS-25) Photo by Lockheed Martin

The future USS Cleveland (LCS-31) sat in a light blue cradle, held together by four pins, during USNI News’ recent visit to Marinette. The ship was awaiting its christening and side launch, a “poor man’s way” of putting a ship in the water, according to Vandroff. It’s the last side launch planned at the Wisconsin yard.

Cleveland’s christening marks the end of the Freedom-class ships, which the Navy has sought to rapidly decommission over the last few years because service officials argue the platform can’t perform in the type of conflict the U.S. military is preparing for with a country like China.
On a warm April day in northern Wisconsin shipyard, Robyn Modly, the wife of former Navy undersecretary Thomas Modly, smashed a bottle of champagne across the bow of Cleveland. As the champagne sprayed, four of Vandroff’s best people removed the four pins holding Cleveland in its cradle. But as the ship tipped into the river, it hit a tug boat, making what’s known as a violent endeavor to launch a ship even more stressful.

The Freedom-class ships were also plagued by problems with their propulsion system, particularly the combining gear that joins the vessel’s gas turbines to its diesel engines. RENK Group – which built the combining gear – the Navy, and Lockheed Martin found a solution and are chewing through the line to fix the ships that remain in service, but the Navy is still trying to decommission them in successive budget proposals.

The most recent estimates put the fix at $8 million per ship and the Navy is splitting the cost with Lockheed for the ships that were not already commissioned into service, according to a Navy official.

“The job of a shipyard is to build the ship that the customer orders from them to build. So we are building this ship – in the LCS – that is to the specification that the Navy gave us in the contract to build,” Vandroff said when asked about the Navy’s decommissioning push. “What the Navy does with it at that point is up to them.”

Marinette built Cleveland using the kit required to fix the gear. The future USS Marinette (LCS-25), which was moored next to Cleveland before the launch, has received the gear fix. Lockheed is in the process of fixing the gear on the future USS Nantucket (LCS-25). The future USS Beloit (LCS-29) – which was sitting pierside at Marinette for shaft alignment – will get fixed in October.

With the LCS line winding down, Lockheed says it can carry over much of the workforce to build the Saudi combatant, since it’s similar in size and based on the same design.

As for the future of the Freedom-class ships once they’re out of the yard, Lockheed says that’s up to the Navy.

“That kind of is just noise to us. We’ve got a very important job to build these ships and deliver everything that the Navy has asked for us,” Chris Minster, Lockheed’s director of small combatant programs, told USNI News after Cleveland’s launch.
“What the Navy then decides to do, or how to use the ships, we’ll let the Congress and the Navy sort that out. It doesn’t change what we have to do here to build these ships and deliver the ships.”

Ransomware Attack Hits Marinette Marine Shipyard, Results in Short-Term Delay of Frigate, Freedom LCS Construction

The Wisconsin shipyard that builds the U.S. Navy’s Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship and the Constellation-class guided-missile frigate suffered a ransomware attack last week that delayed production across the shipyard, USNI News has learned. Fincantieri Marinette Marine experienced the attack in the early morning hours of April 12, when large chunks of data on the shipyard’s […]

Shipyard workers at Fincantieri Marinette Marine on April 12, 2023. USNI News Photo

The Wisconsin shipyard that builds the U.S. Navy’s Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship and the Constellation-class guided-missile frigate suffered a ransomware attack last week that delayed production across the shipyard, USNI News has learned.

Fincantieri Marinette Marine experienced the attack in the early morning hours of April 12, when large chunks of data on the shipyard’s network servers were rendered unusable by an unknown professional group, two sources familiar with a Navy summary of the attack told USNI News on Thursday.

In a typical ransomware attack, attackers take the information on a server, encrypt it and set terms for a key that will unlock the data.

The attack on Marinette Marine targeted servers that held data used to feed instructions to the shipyard’s computer numerical control manufacturing machines, knocking them offline for several days. CNC-enabled machines are the backbone of modern manufacturing, taking specifications developed with design software and sending instructions to devices like welders, cutters, bending machines and other computer-controlled tools.

Based on information from the Navy, it’s unclear if the attackers stole any data.

In a statement to USNI News, Marinette Marine acknowledged there had been a cybersecurity incident at the shipyard.

“Fincantieri Marine Group experienced a cybersecurity incident last week that is causing a temporary disruption to certain computer systems on its network. The company’s network security officials immediately isolated systems and reported the incident to relevant agencies and partners. Fincantieri Marine Group brought in additional resources to investigate and to restore full functionality to the affected systems as quickly as possible, “ reads a statement from Fincantieri spokesman Eric Dent.

“Repair and construction operations continue at all three U.S. shipyards, however the company’s email and some networked operations remain off-line for now.”

Fincantieri would not elaborate beyond the statement. A Lockheed Martin spokesperson acknowledged a request for comment from USNI News but did not immediately provide a response.

USNI News understands that as of Thursday afternoon, some of the CNC machines at Marinette were operational.

USNI News was visiting the shipyard in Marinette the day after the attack and observed shipyard workers using the panel lines that feed gray and pink steel through to build both the Constellation-class frigates and the multi-mission surface combatants for the Royal Saudi Navy.

The yard is currently on contract to build four combatants for the Saudis and three frigates for the U.S. Navy, with the service planning to ramp up procurement in the pursuit of buying two frigates per year.

The Navy acknowledged the attack in a statement but did not provide additional details.

“The Navy was made aware of a cyber-incident involving Fincantieri Marine Group. FMG is the parent company of Fincantieri Marinette Marine which has contracts with the Navy to construct the Constellation Class Frigate and Freedom-variant Littoral Combat Ship. FMM also builds the Multi-Mission Surface Combatant,” reads the statement.
“FMG has taken measures to prevent further incursions and is conducting the required response, remediation and reporting actions. The Navy is actively monitoring the efforts.”

CNO: ‘Very Important’ to Add 2nd Constellation-class Shipyard, Build 4 Frigates a Year

Navy leadership wants to expand construction of its new guided-missile frigate to four ships per year as soon as practical, service leaders told the Senate Armed Service Committee on Tuesday. By the end of the year, the service expects Constellation-class (FFG-62) shipbuilder Fincantieri Marinette Marine to have the technical data package ready for a second […]

Rendering of USS Constellation (FFG-62). Fincantieri Image

Navy leadership wants to expand construction of its new guided-missile frigate to four ships per year as soon as practical, service leaders told the Senate Armed Service Committee on Tuesday.

By the end of the year, the service expects Constellation-class (FFG-62) shipbuilder Fincantieri Marinette Marine to have the technical data package ready for a second shipbuilder to start constructing more Connies, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said in response to SASC ranking member Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.)

“We’re actually waiting for the completion of the technical design package, which is expected by the end of this year,” Del Toro said.
“We will review it and at that point, we’ll make a decision on whether we have the ability to actually take that technical data package and make sure that it’s mature enough to actually compete for another shipyard so that we can have two shipyards.”

In follow-up comments to Wicker’s questions, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday said the service would want both Marinette and the second yard to each eventually produce two Connies a year.

“I think it’s very important … that we could get to the second shipyard and a two-a-year [rate] from each shipyard,” he told the committee.

Marinette started fabrication on the first ship, Constellation (FFG-62), last year after a $795 million award in 2020. The Navy exercised options for the second frigate Congress (FFG-63) in 2021 and Chesapeake (FFG-64) last year.

The call for four Constellations a year is a departure from the Navy’s current long-range outlook for the frigate line. Based on two of the three alternatives in Fiscal Year 2024 30-year shipbuilding plan, the Navy is not planning to hit a sustained two-a-year rate for frigates until the 2030s.

The current “saw-tooth” pattern alternates the buy between one and two frigates every two years through 2027 for a total of seven in the current five-year budget outlook.

While the shipbuilding plan, also released on Tuesday, is a placeholder ahead of the Navy’s planned force structure assessment due in June, the new report gave insight into why the service would want to accelerate the line.

“Increased numbers of smaller multi-mission combatants, such as Constellation-class Frigates (FFG 62), enable more efficient distribution of missions across the surface fleet, freeing up the more capable [guided-missile destroyers] for critical high-end missions,” reads the long-range shipbuilding plan, obtained by USNI News on Tuesday.

The current Arleigh Burke-class destroyers have been tasked with low-intensity missions as part of individual deployments, like providing host platforms for Coast Guard law enforcement missions.

The 7,300-ton frigate is based on the Italian and French navies’ FREMM frigate, but was heavily modified to meet U.S. military survivability standards, growth margins and government-furnished equipment. Leidos subsidiary Gibbs & Cox reworked the original design.

The Navy bought the guided-missile combatant after intense congressional pressure led by the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who was highly critical of the Littoral Combat Ship program and wanted the Navy to pursue a warship with more capabilities, like expanded anti-air capabilities and anti-submarine warfare roles.

Included in the terms after Fincantieri Marinette Marine won the original contract in 2020 was service ownership of the technical data packages needed to build the ship so the Navy could hold a competition for the second yard.

Gulf Coast yards Austal USA in Mobile, Ala., and Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss., have both positioned themselves to take on roles as the second frigate yard. Austal, which once only built aluminum ships, has stood up a steel line to expand the types of ships it can build. Ingalls is completing the final National Security Cutters for the Coast Guard and has construction capacity available.

In the hearing, Gilday stressed that maximizing production is the Navy’s goal across the seven yards that build warships.

“Two shipyards is in the plan,” Gilday said. “We want to make sure that we’re measuring twice and cutting once before that decision is made.”

No Timeline Yet to Add Tomahawk, SM-6 to Constellation Frigates, Says Program Manager

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – The Navy is still working through a timeline to meet a congressional mandate to add Standard Missile 6 and the Tomahawk Cruise Missiles to future Constellation-class guided-missile frigates, service officials told USNI News. A requirement from the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act directed the Navy Secretary to add SM-6s […]

Rendering of Constellation (FFG-62). Fincantieri Image

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – The Navy is still working through a timeline to meet a congressional mandate to add Standard Missile 6 and the Tomahawk Cruise Missiles to future Constellation-class guided-missile frigates, service officials told USNI News.

A requirement from the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act directed the Navy Secretary to add SM-6s and Tomahawks to the Connies. The frigates, based on the Italian and French navies’ FREMM frigate, are multi-mission, but will specialize in anti-submarine warfare.

The original design of the 7,300-ton frigate called for a 32-cell Mark 41 vertical launch system that would field the smaller Evolved Seasparrow Missile (ESSM) Block 2 anti-air missile and the SM-2 Block IIICs.

In an explanatory statement accompanying the FY 2023 NDAA, Congress said it wants the integration of the Tomahawk to serve as a test bed for a virtualized system to control the Tomahawk and to experiment with the missile options for future unmanned surface vehicles.

“The committee notes the Navy is developing and fielding ‘virtualized’ weapons control system technology, including systems to support its vision for Tomahawk-capable unmanned surface vessels. The committee believes the FFG-62 class should include optimized Tomahawk Weapons System hardware and software, which would both provide a necessary lethality increase for the FFG-62 class and serve as a key technical risk reduction advance in realizing Tomahawk-capable USVs,” reads the statement.
“The committee believes that jumping directly to Tomahawk-capable USVs without first having ensured that the FFG-62 class is Tomahawk-capable presents excessive technical risk in such USV programs.

SM-6 and Tomahawks are larger missiles and require a longer version of VLS and additional software – and in the case of Tomahawk – additional control stations.

Constellation-class frigate program manager Capt. Kevin Smith told USNI News last week that the program office, Naval Air Systems Command and Naval Sea Systems Command are working to feather the new requirements into the frigates starting with the second frigate, but there is no firm timeline.

NAVSEA Image

“It’s been very clear to me from my leadership, we don’t want to make changes to the baseline until we get to a certain point,” Smith said in a response to a question from USNI News at the Navy League’s annual Sea Air Space symposium.
“From an Aegis perspective, with the [Aegis] common source library, you can imagine SM-6 may not be that far out of reach … Tomahawk is a little different. If you were trying to install a Tomahawk suite, like on a Flight III [Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer], it wouldn’t fit on a frigate.”

Constellation (FFG-62) is under construction at Fincantieri Marinette Marine’s shipyard in Wisconsin following a $795 million contract award that the Navy issued the yard in 2020. Since then, the service has awarded follow on contracts for Congress (FFG-63) in 2021 and Chesapeake (FFG-64) last year.

The first hull is set to deliver to the Navy by Fiscal Year 2026. The service will then install the new capabilities on the other ships in the class.

“The plan here is to get at that after we get through our initial operational capability and our test events. We are working right now with NAVAIR, as well as NAVSEA on a roadmap to get us that capability,” Smith said.
“Nothing is decided quite yet but we are working on meeting the tenant and language, but right now the plan is not to cause any disruption to the lead ship as far as production and integration.”

Report to Congress on Constellation-class Frigate Program (FFG-62)

The following is the March 27, 2023, Congressional Research Service report, Navy Constellation (FFG-62) Class Frigate Program: Background and Issues for Congress. From the report The Navy began procuring Constellation (FFG-62) class frigates (FFGs) in FY2020, and a total of four have been procured through FY2023, at a rate of one ship per year. Current […]

The following is the March 27, 2023, Congressional Research Service report, Navy Constellation (FFG-62) Class Frigate Program: Background and Issues for Congress.

From the report

The Navy began procuring Constellation (FFG-62) class frigates (FFGs) in FY2020, and a total of four have been procured through FY2023, at a rate of one ship per year. Current Navy plans call for procuring a total of 20 FFG-62s. The Navy’s proposed FY2024 budget requests $2,173.7 million (i.e., about $2.2 billion) for the procurement of the fifth and sixth ships in the program. The Navy’s FY2024 budget submission programs the procurement of an additional six FFG-62s during the period FY2025-FY2028 in annual quantities of 1-2-1-2.

FFG-62s are being built by Fincantieri/Marinette Marine (F/MM) of Marinette, WI. F/MM was awarded a fixed-price incentive (firm target) contract for Detail Design and Construction (DD&C) for up to 10 ships in the program—the lead ship plus nine option ships.

The FFG-62 program presents several potential oversight issues for Congress, including the following:

  • the Navy’s emerging force-level goal for frigates and other small surface combatants, and the potential impact this might have on the total number of FFG-62s to be procured and annual FFG-62 procurement quantities;
  • the potential for cost growth in the FFG-62 program, particularly after the first 10 ships in the program;
  • whether and when to introduce a second shipyard into the FFG-62 program;
  • the number of vertical launch system (VLS) missile tubes in the FFG-62 design; and
  • technical risk in the FFG-62 program.

Download the document here.

Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship Marinette Delivers to Navy

Lockheed Martin delivered the future USS Marinette (LCS-25) to the Navy at Fincantieri Marinette Marine shipyard, in Marinette, Wisc., the service announced in a Friday news release. Marinette is the Navy’s 25th Littoral Combat Ship and is a Freedom-class variant. The ship is the second to be named after the Wisconsin city – the first a former […]

USS Marinette (LCS-27) Photo by Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin delivered the future USS Marinette (LCS-25) to the Navy at Fincantieri Marinette Marine shipyard, in Marinette, Wisc., the service announced in a Friday news release.

Marinette is the Navy’s 25th Littoral Combat Ship and is a Freedom-class variant. The ship is the second to be named after the Wisconsin city – the first a former tugboat (YTB-7910).

The ship is expected to be commissioned in June 2023, according to the Navy release. From there, it will head to its homeport in Mayport, Fla.

Marinette completed its acceptance trial in November, according to the release. During the trial, the ship tested its systems, which included main propulsion and electrical systems.

“The ship also performed demonstrations of its operational capabilities, including a full power demonstration, steering and quick reversal, anchor drop test, and combat system detect-to-engage sequence,” according to the release. “As a result of these successful trials, the Navy accepted delivery and will continue post-delivery certifications and qualifications to ready her for Fleet operations.”

Marinette is one of the LCSs with a combining gear correction added after the Navy identified a class-wide issue more than a year ago. The Navy was able to find a fix for the combing gear issue, with Lockheed Martin installing it into Marinette, USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul (LCS-21) and the future USS Cooperstown (LCS-23), as well as fixing USS St. Louis (LCS-19), USNI News reported in August.

“Today marks a significant milestone in the life of the future USS Marinette,” LCS program manager Capt. Andy Gold said in the Navy release. “I look forward to the commissioning of Marinette later this year and recognizing the contribution of her namesake town and the great shipbuilders who bring these warships to life, ensuring they are ready to accomplish mission tasking in support of our nation’s maritime strategy.”

Fincantieri Marinette Marine shipyard has three more Freedom-class ships under construction, according to the release. Future USS Nantucket (LCS-27), which is being built with Lockheed Martin, is expected to be delivered to the Navy in summer 2023.

Future USS Beloit (LCS-29) and future USS Cleveland (LCS-31) – the final Freedom-class LCS to be built – are under construction, as well.

Report to Congress on Constellation-class Frigate Program (FFG-62)

The following is the Dec. 21, 2022, Congressional Research Service report, Navy Constellation (FFG-62) Class Frigate (Previously FFG[X]) Program: Background and Issues for Congress. From the report The Navy began procuring Constellation (FFG-62) class frigates (FFGs) in FY2020, and wants to procure a total of 20 FFG-62s. Congress funded the first FFG-62 in FY2020, the […]

The following is the Dec. 21, 2022, Congressional Research Service report, Navy Constellation (FFG-62) Class Frigate (Previously FFG[X]) Program: Background and Issues for Congress.

From the report

The Navy began procuring Constellation (FFG-62) class frigates (FFGs) in FY2020, and wants to procure a total of 20 FFG-62s. Congress funded the first FFG-62 in FY2020, the second in FY2021, and the third in FY2022. The Navy’s proposed FY2023 budget requests the procurement of the fourth FFG-62.

The Navy’s FY2023 budget submission estimates the procurement cost of the fourth FFG-62 at $1,091.2 (i.e., about $1.1 billion). The ship has received $6.0 million in prior-year advance procurement (AP) funding. The Navy’s proposed FY2023 budget requests the remaining $1,085.2 million needed to complete the ship’s estimated procurement cost. The Navy’s proposed FY2023 budget also requests $74.9 million in AP funding for FFG-62s to be procured in future fiscal years.

Four industry teams competed for the FFG-62 program. On April 30, 2020, the Navy announced that it had awarded the FFG-62 contract to the team led by Fincantieri/Marinette Marine (F/MM) of Marinette, WI. F/MM was awarded a fixed-price incentive (firm target) contract for Detail Design and Construction (DD&C) for up to 10 ships in the program—the lead ship plus nine option ships. The other three industry teams reportedly competing for the program were led by Austal USA of Mobile, AL; General Dynamics/Bath Iron Works (GD/BIW) of Bath, ME; and Huntington Ingalls Industries/Ingalls Shipbuilding (HII/Ingalls) of Pascagoula, MS.

As part of its action on the Navy’s FY2020-FY2022 budgets, Congress has passed provisions relating to U.S. content requirements for certain components of each FFG-62 class ship, as well as a provision requiring the Navy to conduct a land-based test program for the FFG-62’s engineering plant (i.e., its propulsion plant and associated machinery).

The FFG-62 program presents several potential oversight issues for Congress, including the following:

  • the Navy’s emerging force-level goal for frigates and other small surface combatants;
  • the reduction in the FFG-62 program’s programmed procurement rate under the Navy’s FY2023 five-year (FY2023-FY2027) shipbuilding plan;
  • the accuracy of the Navy’s estimated unit procurement cost for FFG-62s, particularly when compared to the known unit procurement costs of other recent U.S. surface combatants;
  • whether to build FFG-62s at a single shipyard at any one time (the Navy’s baseline plan), or at two shipyards;
  • whether the Navy has appropriately defined the required capabilities and growth margin for FFG-62s;
  • whether to take any further legislative action regarding U.S. content requirements for the FFG-62 program;
  • technical risk in the FFG-62 program; and
  • the potential industrial-base impacts of the FFG-62 program for shipyards and supplier firms in the context of other Navy and Coast Guard shipbuilding programs.

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Italian Shipbuilder Fincantieri Looks to Slash Leverage in Business Revamp

By Alberto Brambilla (Bloomberg) — Italy’s Fincantieri SpA wants to slash its debt-to-profit ratio in its new business plan through 2027, as the state-controlled shipbuilder looks to avoid seeking new funds…

By Alberto Brambilla (Bloomberg) — Italy’s Fincantieri SpA wants to slash its debt-to-profit ratio in its new business plan through 2027, as the state-controlled shipbuilder looks to avoid seeking new funds...

Fincantieri Begins Construction of First Constellation-class Frigate

THE PENTAGON – Fincantieri Marinette Marine will officially start building the first Constellation-class frigate at its yard in Marinette, Wis., today. The start of fabrication comes nearly two and a half years after the Navy issued Fincantieri the detail design and construction award for the first frigate in April 2020. After finishing the critical design […]

Rendering of USS Constellation (FFG-62). Fincantieri Marinette Image

THE PENTAGON – Fincantieri Marinette Marine will officially start building the first Constellation-class frigate at its yard in Marinette, Wis., today.

The start of fabrication comes nearly two and a half years after the Navy issued Fincantieri the detail design and construction award for the first frigate in April 2020.

After finishing the critical design review in May and the production readiness review in July, the Navy green-lit the shipbuilder to start production, Rear Adm. Casey Moton, the program executive officer for unmanned and small combatants, told reporters in a roundtable this week.

Asked why it took the shipyard two and a half years to begin building the lead ship, Moton said both the service and Fincantieri wanted to complete the design as much as possible before beginning construction.

“It was maturing the design. It is a pretty healthy process that’s got to go on … that’s a fairly lengthy process of going through the functional design where you’re looking system by system. And then it’s a little bit of a spiral, right. If you change some things that they have impact on another [thing],” Moton said.

“It just takes a while to move through that process. In order to complete the design, the shipbuilder has to get all of their major vendors on contract because we’re literally at the level where it’s not just, okay here’s a pump, but we need to know which pump because we got to have the right circuit breakers to feed that pump. It is at quite [a] detailed level. That takes time. And mutually we and the shipbuilder agreed that design maturity was probably the single biggest factor we could do to reduce the risk of production,” he added.

While Fincantieri is the lead for the functional design, Gibbs & Cox is in charge of designing the ship’s 3D model, Moton said.

“Since the contract for Constellation-class detail design and construction was awarded in April 2020, Fincantieri and its team have been completing the detail design of ship systems – placing material suppliers under contract and developing the three dimensional model that is used for supporting production,” he said.

Fincantieri has also embarked on a capital improvement effort at the Marinette shipyard so it’s ready to build the frigates.

A Fincantieri Marinette Marine model of the proposed USS Constellation (FFG-62). USNI News Photo

The detail design is just over 80 percent finished, which was the Navy’s goal prior to fabrication, Moton said.

“That’s a percentage beyond just the number. That percentage reflects two things – one is that we wanted to ensure the functional design was largely complete and that’s important because that’s what sets the systems and the equipment selection and all those types of things,” he told reporters. “The other part of it is making sure that the 3D model was complete enough to know that there’s still work that will happen a kind of the modular level, almost compartment level – but making sure that those ship-wide things were mature and stable.”

The lead ship in the class is slated to deliver to the Navy in 2026. The service’s requirement is 20 frigates and it has the option to bring in a second yard to build the small combatants. But Congress in Fiscal Year 2022 legislation mandated a pause on the second yard effort, arguing the Navy must mature the design before bringing in a second shipbuilder.

The Navy previously planned to buy two frigates per year starting in FY 2023, but slowed down that effort in the most recent budget submission. A service official during the FY 2023 budget rollout said the frigate’s procurement projection, which alternates between buying one ship per year and then two, reflects what one shipyard could build in the next five years.

Moton said the cadence at which the service buys the ships will depend on funding and industrial base capacity.

“The pace that we will build that frigate class is a function of that measured approach that we took initially. It’s a function of an approach that is balanced against topline constraints. It’s an approach that’s balanced against the entire industrial base and how quickly we might need to go to a second builder,” Moton said.

Navy officials would not give details on when they’d need to make a decision about a second yard, but said it would take Fincantieri about a year to put together the technical data package the service would have to give to the second builder.

“They are essentially producing a set of documents – electronic documents – that we could then hand to another shipbuilder to take a look at it. So we’ll keep an eye on that, we’ll see how it’s informed by the portfolio. We’ll know here as the next couple of years progress. As I said, there is a lot of advantage in terms of holding on getting that package because as the shipbuilder moves through production, there will be fixes and changes and things that need to happen,” Moton said.
“It’s kind of to our advantage to sort of wait as long as we can to get those good fixes, but also support when it looks like we’re going to need to put our an [request for proposal] if and when we do that for a second builder.”

Both HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding and Austal USA are positioning themselves to bid for second line of the Constellation-class frigates, USNI News recently reported.

The Navy and Fincantieri adapted the Italian FREMM multi-mission frigate parent design so the Constellation-class frigates can field U.S. systems like Aegis Baseline 10 and C4I systems, Moton said.