Construction begins for $1.3 billion Navy ship in Marinette
MARINETTE (WLUK) -- Workers in Marinette are building what will eventually become the U.S.S. Constellation, a $1.3 billion project.
Cutting the steel marks the first step in the expected four-year-long process. Just designing the frigate took about two years.
“We’ve been through design review with the Navy. We’ve been through our production readiness review with the Navy... We’re actually ready to start building the ship," says Fincantieri Marinette Marine CEO Mark Vandroff.
Vandroff says they are looking to hire about 300 more employees in all departments to help with the ship.
“I’m looking for employees, both blue collar and white collar. For blue collar employees, I'm looking for young men and women who want to learn the trade and who want to make a good wage and are willing to work," says Vandroff.
Fincantieri is also working with universities to see which graduates they recommend.
“In the white collar workforce, I’m looking for program managers, and I’m looking for supply chain folks, and I’m looking for engineers," says Vandroff.
Rear Adm. Casey Moton says the Navy needs these ships for two reasons.
“The first is capacity; we need a large fleet... and so ships like the frigate give us that capacity that we need to meet those potential threats," says Moton.
The other reason is capability in different warfare areas.
“Anti-air warfare, the ship is going to have a new powerful sonar that will give it capability to locate submarines. It will also have what we call an anti-surface capability," says Moton.
The approximately $300 million investment to the Fincantieri Marinette Marine facilities is to accommodate the building of the new class of ship.
“Behind this building and the way I'm facing is what we now call Building 34. It's large enough that two full-size fully built Constellation frigates can be in there side by side," says Vandroff.
The frigate is twice as big as any ship the company has ever built. Eventually, they expect to build ten of them.