When I first wrote about the floundering of the US Navy's Constellation class frigate program last May, things were clearly circling the proverbial drain. The foreshadowing was there; this was shaping up to be another hyper-costly US Navy procurement failure.
Secretary of the Navy John Phelan made it official last week:
From day one I made it clear: I won’t spend a dollar if it doesn’t strengthen readiness or our ability to win.
— Secretary of the Navy John C. Phelan (@SECNAV) November 25, 2025
To keep that promise, we’re reshaping how we build and field the Fleet—working with industry to deliver warfighting advantage, beginning with a strategic shift away… pic.twitter.com/pbTpIPDfR8
The initial concept was so elegant; at a time when the US desperately needed to increase its fleet of "Frigates" - relatively small, relatively inexpensive ships that are the fleet's offensive linemen to the aircraft carrier's quarterback, the destroyers' running back, and the submarine's wide receivers. During the (first) Cold War, the Navy had 70 of them, assigned to escorting convoys and protecting fleet supply vessels and doing the jobs the Navy didn't need an expensive "destroyer" for. Here's a handy reference for those with a little literacy in naval stuff:
Just in case anyone's interested in getting a better look at the graphics I whipped up for today's video.
— Alex Hollings (@AlexHollings52) November 28, 2025
Here's the Constellation-class armament and propulsion systems, and a size comparison between it, the Flight IIA Burke, and the FREMM frigate the Connie was based on. pic.twitter.com/7mhCuVYuTf
The initial theory was so elegant, by government bureaucratic standards; after watching an endless train of shipbuilding programs veer insanely over budget, or lose track of requirements and missions over the past couple of decades, keep it simple and buy an existing, proven, tested, easy to adapt ship "off the shelf". Skip the design and development costs, and get ships out into the fleet.
The Navy chose the Franco-Italian FREMM-class ships, which are in service in several other countries. In theory, that should have made things relatively simple.
But nothing is simple in American shipbuilding these days:
he Navy today released a rare public accounting of major delays for key shipbuilding programs, with ships from nine programs running behind, in some cases up to three years.
In total, the Navy forecasts a cumulative delay of more than 11 years, at a time when lawmakers and Pentagon planners agree that the Navy needs to be modernizing and growing for a potential conflict in the Pacific.
Among the notable delays as outlined by the report:
- The first Columbia-class submarine, built jointly by General Dynamics Electric Boat and HII, is projected to be between 12 and 16 months late.
- The fourth and fifth blocks of the Virginia-class submarine, also by Electric Boat and HII, are 36 and 24 months late.
- The first Constellation-class frigate from Fincantieri Marinette Marine is 36 months behind schedule.
- The future aircraft carrier Enterprise (CVN-80), built by HII, is approximately 18 to 26 months late.
So, at a time when the US Navy needs dozens of new ships, but the US naval shipbuilding capacity has been languishing for decades, and the fleet's (and the entire military's) strategy is evolving, something had to give.
Which is, of course, bad news for the Wisconsin shipbuilder that was going to do the job:
In the wake of the announcement, analysts told Breaking Defense they don’t expect that the abrupt cancellation of such a big program is likely to put the Wisconsin shipbuilder out of business anytime soon. But, they said, the Navy must move quickly to aggressively reinvest into small, maneuverable and unmanned ships both to ensure Fincantieri’s Wisconsin shipyard stays viable moving forward and replace the capability it is losing by severely truncating the frigate program.
“This is going to be devastating for [Fincantieri’s] workforce. They invested heavily buying the yard in 2009 and invested a lot to win the frigate class competition,” said Jerry McGinn, who researches the defense industrial base at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). McGinn said finishing the first two frigates would buy the shipyard time to prepare for the future, but “I think this is going to [have] a significant impact,” he added.
So - what do we do?
Maybe look around the world for another tried, tested, developed design to build?
