Fincantieri Marinette Marine (FMM) officially started construction on the U.S. Navy’s first Constellation-class guided missile frigate in Northeast Wisconsin. Two years ago the Navy selected FMM to design and build the Constellation-class frigate, and since then the shipyard and its employees have been remarkably busy. The shipyard received extensive upgrades and new facilities to efficiently build these important vessels. The future USS Constellation moved into the next stage of development as shipbuilders began cutting steel for the ship with members of the Navy, representatives of elected officials and community leaders observing this material start to a class of ships.
“We continue to work extensively with the Navy’s program office to complete first ship design to give the Navy the ship they want. We are better than 80% complete on ship design prior to starting construction, which is consistent with best practices across the naval shipbuilding industry,” said Mark Vandroff, CEO of Fincantieri Marinette Marine.
“We invested more than $300 million into our Marinette shipyard to build many frigates for the U.S. Navy. Using our new facilities and industry-leading best practices, we stand ready to deliver the two frigates a year the Navy requires,” said Marco Galbiati, CEO of Fincantieri Marine Group. “
The U.S. Navy is planning for at least 20 frigates to be built in the near future, and Fincantieri intends to be a driving force in this surface combatant community. Fincantieri Marinette Marine is on contract to build the first three frigates, which the Navy named Constellation, Chesapeake, and Congress, with a historical nod to three of the original six frigates commissioned by the Navy in the late 1780s. FMM has contract options with the Navy for seven additional ships. Fincantieri Marinette Marine used the European frigate FREMM as the basis for their frigate design, taking an operationally proven vessel in service around the world and making it even better.
Fincantieri, one of the world’s largest and most diversified maritime companies, employs more than 20,000 shipbuilding professionals in 18 shipyards on four continents. Fincantieri operates in the United States through its subsidiary Fincantieri Marine Group. This company, which serves commercial and government customers, including the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard, has three shipyards (Fincantieri Marinette Marine, Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding and Fincantieri ACE Marine) located in Wisconsin on the Great Lakes. The company recently completed a $300 million capital expansion program for U.S. shipyards. The expansion includes additional computer-aided ship manufacturing equipment, new climate-controlled facilities, and a U.S. Navy-Certified floating dry-dock.