U.S. News: Navy Announces New Warship For Trump's 'Golden Fleet'

“The U.S. Navy will commission a new class of frigates, the first in a series of warships that will make up President Trump's envisioned "Golden Fleet."

 

The Navy chose HII's Ingalls Shipbuilding to build the new ship, it announced Friday in a video posted on social media. The new ship will be based on the Coast Guard's Legend-class National Security Cutter, which Ingalls builds in Pascagoula, Miss., and will replace the Constellation-class frigate that the Navy canceled last month after years of delays.

 

"Recent operations from the Red Sea to the Caribbean make the requirement undeniable -- our small surface combatant inventory is a third of what we need," Adm. Daryl Caudle, the Chief of Naval Operations, said in the video.

 

"We need more capable blue water small combatants to close the gap and keep our [destroyers] focused on the high end fight."

 

While HII will build the lead ship, the Navy plans to complete construction of additional vessels at other shipyards so that they can get into the fleet faster, Navy Secretary John Phelan said in the video. The Navy wants the first ship in the water by 2028.

 

"We know this frigate design works, we know it operates with the fleet, and most importantly, we know how to build it, now," he said.

 

Trump has been personally involved in drawing up plans for the new fleet, which will be designed to better counter China and other threats. The president approved the Navy's plan for the "Golden Fleet" in a Dec. 3 Oval Office meeting with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Phelan and Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, Phelan told The Wall Street Journal on the sidelines of the Reagan National Defense Forum earlier this month.

 

A new frigate will be a key piece of that fleet, tasked with protecting larger vessels and sea lanes from threats like enemy aircraft and surface ships. The canceled Constellation-class was designed as a multimission, guided-missile frigate that could keep pace with aircraft carriers. During the original competition, which was announced in 2020, HII had proposed a modified version of the cutter for what would become the Constellation class.

 

"The frigate will follow the same proven approach we used with the Arleigh Burke destroyers, building it smart from the start, then upgrading it in steps over time," Phelan said in the social-media post announcing the new ship.

 

The Constellation-class frigate, which Trump approved in his first term, was being built by Fincantieri in Wisconsin and was supposed to be 85% in common with the Franco-Italian multimission frigate it already builds in Europe. The ship was just 15% in common, Vought said at the Reagan National Defense Forum, due to design changes made by the Navy. It has spent about $2 billion on the program so far and will take delivery of just the first two ships.

 

American shipbuilders have struggled to produce vessels on time and budget due to a shortage of skilled workers, supply chain issues and aging facilities.

 

HII, the U.S. Navy's largest shipbuilder, touted a $1 billion investment in its infrastructure, tooling and facilities at Ingalls in a press release.

 

The company said it has the necessary workers to staff the new program and that it is confident it would be able to launch the first ship in 2028. It plans to begin work as soon as the contract is formally awarded and parts material becomes available.

 

Neither the value of the contract to HII nor the cost of the overall program has been announced.

 

"Speed matters, and the [National Security Cutter] ship design is stable and produceable and will lead to predictable schedules," HII President and Chief Executive Chris Kastner said.

 

HII also said it has created partnerships with international manufacturers and is looking for other ways to increase output. "We are currently in discussions with our international shipbuilding partners to explore a joint venture that would significantly expand shipbuilding capacity in support of the future fleet," a company spokesman said. "This would include outsourcing support to HII's current programs as well as potentially serving as the second Frigate shipyard."

 

The Golden Fleet will also include at least 49 new support ships, which the Navy will ask for in the budget request next year, Phelan said.” [1]

 

1. U.S. News: Navy Announces New Warship For Trump's 'Golden Fleet'. Weisgerber, Marcus; Seligman, Lara.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 20 Dec 2025: A5.