The Navy announced on Wednesday that the first set of new Constellation-class guided-missile frigates will be homeported at Naval Station Everett in Washington.
The service said Everett will be the homeport of 12 frigates while a decision on the homeport of the next frigates will be planned in the future.
“The Navy’s homeporting plan will ensure forces are optimally postured to support national security,” the Navy said in a statement.
The Constellation-class are designed to be multi-mission ships capable of operations independently or within a strike group and in both littoral and blue-water environments.
The frigates will include an Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar, Baseline 10 Aegis Combat System, Mk 41 Vertical Launch System, enhanced C4ISR capabilities, MK 110 57mm Gun, countermeasures, and flexibility for added future capabilities.
In April 2020, the Navy awarded Fincantieri’s Marinette Marine a $795 million detail design and construction (DD&C) contract for the first frigate (FFG-62) and options for up to nine additional vessels (Defense Daily, April 30, 2020).
Last month, the Navy awarded the shipyard another $554 million modification for the DD&C of the second frigate, the future USS Congress (FFG-63) (Defense Daily, May 21, 2020).
The Navy’s last class of frigates, the Oliver Hazard Perry-class, entered service from 1977 to 1989 and were decommissioned between 1994 and 2015. The last frigate homeported in Everett was the USS Rodney M. Davis (FFG-60) and decommissioned in 2015.