4 Constellation-class frigates per year- can America's shipyards do it?

How the U.S. Navy Plans to Crank Out Frigates Like Hotcakes

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The U.S. Navy wants its new class of guided-missile frigates now, and it wants a lot of them.


Last month, the service outlined plans to open a second shipyard, and add four new Constellation-class frigates per year—a rate not matched since the Cold War. The plan could finally increase the size of the Navy’s battle fleet, a number that the Chinese navy has already left in the dust.

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Constellation’s various combat systems, including a 57-millimeter automatic cannon, vertical-launch missile silos, anti-ship missiles, machine guns, and aviation and defensive systems.


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Between 1975 and 1989, the U.S. Navy built 51 Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates. These versatile, useful ships served both in carrier battle groups and alone, showing the flag in relatively peaceful parts of the world, interdicting the flow of drugs into the United States, and performing other low-risk missions that didn’t call for the firepower of a destroyer. In peacetime, the ships would have escorted convoys from the United States to Europe through a gauntlet of Soviet submarines.


Constellation to the Rescue



The Constellation class of frigates is enormously important to the future of the Navy and American seapower. If the effort to grow the fleet stalls, that could send the wrong signal to the rest of the world—particularly China. War with any foreign power isn’t guaranteed, and would be even less likely if potential enemies looked at the balance of forces and concluded the United States would be a tough enemy to beat. A strong fleet isn’t just important in wartime, it’s important in peacetime, too.