“The U.S. Navy plans to cancel orders for four new warships after the government's extensive design modifications set back construction by years.
The cancellation spells the end of a planned Constellation-class frigate program that the Navy first ordered from Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri in 2020. Officials said the contractor will continue work on two ships already under construction, and drop plans for four others to free up space for vessels that can be more quickly designed and assembled.
"A key factor in this decision is the need to grow the fleet faster to meet tomorrow's threats," Navy Secretary John Phelan said. "This framework puts the Navy on a path to more rapidly construct new classes of ships and deliver the capability our warfighters need in greater numbers and on a more urgent timeline."
The Pentagon didn't specify the kinds of ships that might replace the four it scratched off its order list.
A Defense Department official said on Tuesday that the military intends to finish designing future vessels before starting construction on them to avoid introducing new complexities into the process.
A Fincantieri spokesman said the company expects the Navy will honor its agreement with the shipbuilder by channeling future work toward other vessels.
Past work on the Constellation-class frigates has exposed how much the U.S. lags behind other countries' shipbuilding capacity. Fincantieri originally planned to build an American version of a proven model already at sea when it won the contract. But the government kept tinkering with the design to meet ever-changing specifications, which set back the construction schedule and added costs.
The first ship in the class, called the USS Constellation, was once scheduled to launch in 2026 but is now slated to set sea in late 2029. A senior Navy official said Tuesday it had spent about $2 billion so far on the program.
Warships built in U.S. shipyards take longer and cost more to build than in other industrialized nations. Of 20 different frigates made recently or set for completion soon in 10 different countries, all but one were or will be built in less time than the USS Constellation, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis this year.
Frigates are midsize warships used for submarine warfare and escorting larger ships, among other tasks.
Navy officials said they would ask Congress in the coming weeks to redirect unspent funding toward more ready-to-make designs that can be built at Fincantieri's Marinette, Wis., shipyard.
Phelan said keeping workers employed and the yard ready for future projects was "of foremost concern."
"The Navy needs ships, and we look forward to building them in every shipyard that can," he said.
The Journal reported in October that White House and Pentagon officials were sketching out early plans for a "Golden Fleet" of new warships better suited to counter China and other potential threats. President Trump has weighed in on some of the plans to field a mix of large warships and smaller corvettes, the Journal has reported.” [1]
1. U.S. News: Navy Scraps Its Plans For Troubled Warship. FitzGerald, Drew; Seligman, Lara. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 26 Nov 2025: A5.
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