MARINETTE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The U.S. Secretary of the Navy was in Marinette on Thursday.
He was checking in on several classes of ships being built for the Navy.
This comes after the Navy announced it wants to decommission 24 ships.
9 of those are Freedom Class Littoral Combat Ships, all built by Fincantieri Marinette Marine.
“Many of those ships are already beyond their extended service life as well too. There are some ships such as the LCS class, they’re below their extended service life. Unfortunately because of the challenges that we’ve had specifically related to the ASW module on them, it does need for them to be replaced earlier than expected,” U.S. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said.
ASW stands for Anti-Submarine Warfare.
That capability was canceled in the new budget.
The Freedom-class ships also suffer from a defect that would be costly to repair.
“We make major investments in modernization. Those investments are important. But just like every new piece of technology, sometimes things work out, sometimes they don’t work out,” Del Toro said.
Fincantieri Marinette Marine CEO Mark Vandroff says the Navy is his customer, and it has the right to employ the ships as it sees fit.
“It’s our job as a shipbuilder when the Navy gives us a contract to build the ship that’s in the contract. And we have to stay focused on that,” Vandroff said.
The Navy is still planning to use the remaining LCS’ being built at Marinette Marine.
“So my plan is to continue to very aggressively use those ships throughout the entire globe, wherever they’re needed,” Del Toro said.
Fincantieri Marinette Marine says the company is executing three programs, the remaining Littoral Combat Ships, four ships for the Royal Saudi Navy, and the Constellation Class Frigates.
