US Navy News and updates

[Musashi_kenshin]

Which version if a T26 is to considered?

I caveat by saying I don't think there's a high chance of the Type 26 being selected, but if it did happen not the Royal Navy version, as I expect the USN would feel the radar wasn't ambitious enough. So either Hunter, or River with more VLS cells - maybe River, as it's already full of US systems.

 

[StobieWan]

At this point, USN ship procurement is starting to resemble the output from a thought exercise along the lines of "You have been appointed to manage the Navy for Elbonia, but are secretly working for their enemies. What steps do you take to ensure, while remaining unsuspected, no meaningful progress is made in sustaining the Navy?"

It doesn't really matter what design is selected unfortunately, as the issue seems to be consistent throughout - they keep cutting steel while trying to finalise a constantly revised design.

This is a total disaster for a navy which desperately needs to grow mass in the face of an anticipated conflict in the Pacific.

Can this be fixed ? Not in the yard and not at the design process - there's something institutionally wrong with USN procurement of ships and that needs to be tackled.

Constellation should have been a fairly safe bet, the design was mature and did the job the USN said they wanted it to do. If they select another design, without some serious inward reflection, I predict a repeat performance.

 

[Musashi_kenshin]

Constellation should have been a fairly safe bet, the design was mature and did the job the USN said they wanted it to do. If they select another design, without some serious inward reflection, I predict a repeat performance.

I agree that if they keep fiddling with the design again, it will be awful. The only thing I can say is that FREMM was going to need amending. But why they were still trying to finalise the design I don't know.

Again, I'm not even suggesting that the Type 26 is a likely replacement, but it is large and already has a variant heavily decked out in US goodies.

 

[swerve]

The troubled Constellation class has been cancelled with the 2 boats under construction to be completed. A new ship to be announced.

It seems the capability creep has caught up and killed it. I feel like they should just announce a cruiser program and be done with it, rather than add cruiser capability to a frigate sized hull.

https://news.usni.org/2025/11/25/navy-cancels-constellation-class-frigate-program-considering-new-small-surface-combatants

Not really surprising. They either picked the wrong ship, or couldn't resist specifications creep. The whole thing has certainly been grossly mismanaged. Either redesign before building, or build as it stands.

The question is, can they avoid making the same mistakes again? There seem to be major institutional problems in the USN at the moment.

 

[Systems Adict]

You beat me to it.

Well maybe offer them Hunter?

Constellation-class Frigate Program Cancelled, U.S. Navy Looking for Faster Procurement of Alternatives - Naval News

Secretary of the Navy John Phelan announced a "strategic shift" away from the Constellation-class frigate program this week shifting the fleet towards viable alternatives that can be built faster and cheaper.

www.navalnews.com

When the Constellation class was 1st announced Type 26 was NEVER considered, as it "Was not a proven in-service design". The sad thing in all of this is that FREMM would have given the US what they were looking for if they HAD stopped there & taken what they had ordered & literally changed things, bit by bit as the normally do, during service upgrades & refits.

Instead, we have ships that were tendered between 2018 & 2020, orders placed in 2020 & here we are 7 years on in 2025 with ships that will still effectively take at least 3 years to make it to sea for trials & commissioning.

Warships are not cars on a dealership lot, or heavy duty tools from the shelves of your nearest walmart ! They take time, the design needs to be discussed, finessed & agreed before you start cutting steel, as it can take a long time to get parts. THAT is why it makes sense to dove-tail into an already established programme.

The US need to look at what Norway has done with Type 26.

They negotiated a way in to an active production line, have likely agreed to take a 'build-to-print' design, but rather than tweak it by ADDING things (to change it), have probably suggested NOT taking things / leaving spaces empty, but keeping the dimensions of a compartment / cable runs / HVAC, with the intent that THEY can retrofit the equipment that THEY want, once the ship is theirs.

Examining the 'Global Combat Ship' design, for the x4 variants, the one that most closely resembles a US warship is the probably the River Class for Canada. Hunter is a close 2nd, but I think that there's likely to be too much different to make it viable.

As for the Navantia F110 series from Spain, or the Mogami's from Japan, again I think that there will be too much 'different', that the US would want to 'tamper' with them..

Yup, if the US want to build ships 'faster', they should really look at Canada.

But if they do, how will Trump fair with US ships being built in a Foreign Country ???

 

[hauritz]

Should make the free world very concerned that the US seems to have lost the ability to build ships. First the failure to lift the build rate of the Virginia and now the inability to even get a ship onto a slipway. All this on top you have the problems around the LCS and Zumwalt destroyers.

Meanwhile China continues to grind out ships at a rate that is almost unimaginable for the Americans.

The Canadian version of the Type 26 looks like it would fit in nicely with the rest of the USN fleet with practically no modifications ... just saying.

 

[John Fedup]

Yup, if the US want to build ships 'faster', they should really look at Canada.

But if they do, how will Trump fair with US ships being built in a Foreign Country ???

Built in Canada isn't an option of course but the River design could be licensed by a US yard. Given the USN's record lately, probably another cancelled C-F would be the outcome.