Secretary of the Navy John Phelen announced Tuesday that the Navy is taking a strategic shift away from the Constellation Class Frigate, being designed and built by Fincantieri Marinette Marine.   The program has been plagued with delays, and with a new emphasis on building a fleet faster, the Navy has decided to cancel four ships in the Constellation Class that have not yet begun construction.  Fincanteri will continue to work on the first two ships in the class, the Constellation and Congress.   This, according to the Navy will keep Finanteri’s three local shipyards in operation to compete for future government work. About 3,000 people are currently employed across the three yards.

Secretary Phelan emphasized the importance of the local shipyards.

In a statement the company said: “Fincantieri has been a committed partner, and the Navy values this partnership and our investment and together we want to rapidly deliver capabilities to warfighters, so we believe that the Navy will honor the agreed framework and channel work in sectors such as amphibious, icebreaking, and special missions into our system of shipyards, while they determine how we can support with new types of small surface combatants, both manned and unmanned, that they want to rapidly field.  The key is to maximize the commitment and capabilities our system of shipyards represents.”

“Obviously our first priority is to keep our workforce stabilized, but having the Navy keeping us working on the first two frigates is important. Besides the Frigate program, the shipyard is also working on four ships for the  Multi-Mission Surface Combatant program.  The Navy has made the shift away from frigate, but they have other programs that they will need industry to step up and build.  Luckily all the investment and Capital Expenditures is complete and the yard is humming.  Although we wanted to build 10+ frigates, we know that we are a solid, competent shipbuilder and the Navy and our government needs that capacity.”