Trump cancels a Navy shipbuilding order, putting Marinette jobs in limbo

Fincantieri Marinette Marine is losing out on four or more frigates. Baldwin demands a new plan to counter China’s growing naval fleet.

The abrupt cancellation of a US Navy ship building project will have a short-term impact on Wisconsin jobs, but it also holds the potential for long-term damage if the Trump administration doesn’t replace it with something else to counter the explosive growth of China’s naval fleet. 

Secretary of the Navy John Phelan said Tuesday the Constellation class of frigates is being canceled after years of delays and design changes. Fincantieri Marinette Marine, which had initially been awarded a $5.6 billion contract in April 2020,  will finish the two currently under construction, but anywhere from four to 20 more that had been planned will not be built.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin blasted the Trump administration for “turning their backs on this key program and the Wisconsin workers who make it possible” and called for an immediate update on the Navy’s new ship building plan to avoid falling further behind China.

Repeal and (Not) Replace?

Phelan made the announcement in a social media post.

“We’re reshaping how we build and field the Fleet, working with industry to deliver warfighting advantage, beginning with a strategic shift away from the Constellation-class frigate program,” Phelan posted on X (formerly Twitter) as he called for a new way to build ships faster.

But Baldwin calls the move “a blow to our national security, and a blow to our Made in Wisconsin economy,” citing China’s growth. China has an estimated 400 hulls in the water, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies — while the US has around 240 ships and submarines.

Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson, who recently published a book about the decline of American ship building, said the Navy needs to live up to Phelan’s promise to “reshape” how the fleet is built up in the near future or a labor shortage in Marinette and other shipbuilding sites is only going to get worse.

“The military, sooner or later, is going to need Fincantieri Marinette Marine to build a ship,” Nelson said on Mornings with Pat Kreitlow. “And so we have to make sure that we have these established companies and workforce so that when it is needed, they’re there. And if they don’t do their job, which is to bring these ships up to spec then this is going to be bad, of course, for Fincantieri Marinette Marine, for the workers in Marinette, but also for the US Navy.”

Marinette not to blame for design delays

The Constellation class of frigates, also known as littoral combat ships, has provided numerous examples of redesign, cost overruns, and delays in delivery. But Nelson said those are the fault of people beyond that northeast Wisconsin port.

“What happens in Marinette,” Nelson said, “they’re the ones who build this. They’re not the ones who design it. That falls at the doorstep of Lockheed and Rolls Royce, the company that designed the engines. The workers are going to bear the brunt because the people who were supposed to do their job didn’t do it.”

In a statement, Fincantieri Marinette Marine said they do not anticipate layoffs because work can be shifted to other orders, including amphibious, ice breaking, and other types of vessels.

Baldwin said that since 2023, she has successfully fought to include $200 million in Department of Defense funding bills to support the frigate program and the Wisconsin workforce, claiming strong bipartisan consensus in Congress advocating for the Navy to significantly expand the size of the fleet, including by building additional frigates like the Constellation class.