Constellation Frigate Cancellation: Impact on Navy and Fincantieri
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy’s abrupt cancellation of 16 of 20 planned Constellation-class frigates represents a watershed moment for the defense industrial base, particularly for Fincantieri Marinette Marine, the Wisconsin shipyard that won the initial contract in 2020.
Navy Secretary John Phelan announced the decision via social media last week, stating: “From day one I made it clear: I won’t spend a dollar if it doesn’t strengthen readiness or our ability to win.” The announcement follows years of cost overruns and schedule delays on what was initially a $20 billion program.
For Fincantieri, the implications are substantial. The Italian parent company had invested approximately $800 million in the Wisconsin shipyard and winning the competition. The company now employs 2,175 workers at Marinette Marine, though it has already reduced contracted labor by more than 100 positions in recent months.
“This is going to be devastating for [Fincantieri’s] workforce,” said Jerry McGinn, defense industrial base researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “They invested heavily buying the yard in 2009 and invested a lot to win the frigate class competition.”
Fincantieri responded to the cancellation by announcing an agreement with the Navy to deliver a “new class of vessels” and receive work on other ship classes, though specific details remain undisclosed. The company stated it expects the Navy to present additional work options “soon.”
The broader implications extend beyond a single shipyard. Analysts emphasize the cancellation threatens the maritime supply base—an often-overlooked but strategically critical component of defense manufacturing. “Major suppliers often spend many millions of dollars on sales efforts and equipment qualification,” said Paul Roden, a retired Coast Guard officer. “When a program is cut short, suppliers don’t recoup those expenses over the program’s length.”
Cynthia Cook, a senior fellow at CSIS, stressed the national strategic interest in maintaining Marinette’s operations. “There is an upper limit on infrastructure in the maritime industrial base. It’s really hard to find sufficient land to build a new shipyard,” she noted. “The fact that there is an existing shipyard at Marinette means there’s a national strategic interest in keeping it alive.”
The cancellation also leaves a significant capability gap. The Navy designed small surface combatants like the Constellation frigate for escort missions protecting commercial and logistics vessels against advanced submarine threats from Russia and China. The Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship, formerly viewed as a partial solution, faced survivability concerns in high-end conflict scenarios.
Brent Sadler, fellow at the Heritage Foundation, advocates reconsidering the design’s viability: “We need frigates still. There’s no vessel out there for escort duty, for convoys and for moving high-value logistics to make sure it doesn’t get sunk.”
Since 2020, Pentagon officials and lawmakers have floated assigning Constellation-class production to a second shipyard, though no formal industry proposals have been solicited. Analysts warn that success depends on the Navy rapidly reinvesting in new vessel classes—unmanned ships and corvette-sized combatants—to maintain Marinette’s operational viability and ensure sustained American shipbuilding capacity.
Source ID: SRCE-2025-1764785086537-1125