Breaking tradition with consequences: US Navy and the Constellation debacle

When the US Navy decided to use the Italian FREMM frigate design from Fincantieri for its new FFG-62 Constellation class, this marked a break with 200 years of naval tradition: until then, all major surface combatants had been developed in-house by American shipyards. One reason for this turnaround may also lie in the only moderately successful in-house developments of recent decades - such as the Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) or the futuristic but problematic Zumwalt-class destroyers.

But five years after the contract was awarded and three years after construction of the "Constellation" began, there is now great disillusionment:
Only around 10 % of the construction are completedthe design is still not finalised. The delivery of the type ship, originally planned for the end of 2026, will be delayed by at least delay one yearone commissioning before 2028 is unrealistic. The other 19 units will also be delayed accordingly.

Costs are also rising: the construction programme is currently increasing in price by around 40 % - to now 1.4 billion dollars (approx. 1.25 billion euros). And this despite the fact that Straight price and short construction time were the decisive arguments in favour of the tried and tested Italian design.

The causes:

• Numerous late change requestsso that in the meantime only 15 % of the design correspond to the Italian original (85 % were planned).

• Delayed material procurementespecially for long-running components.

• Shortage of skilled labour in the US shipbuilding industry.

The sobering conclusion: the construction of the "Constellation" on American soil is taking a long time. twice as long like a shipyard in Italy. Even the latest executive order from the White House - "Restoring America's Maritime Dominance" - does little to change the fact that American shipbuilding is becoming increasingly less attractiveand is hardly in demand internationally.

The central question for the US Navy is now:
"Continue building or start from scratch?"