MARINETTE, WI (WLUK) — It was the end of an era Saturday, at Fincantieri Marinette Marine.
The final littoral combat ship built at the shipyard was launched and christened.
The future USS Cleveland (LCS 31), a Freedom-variant littoral combat ship, is the 16th and final Freedom-variant LCS.
Robyn Modly, wife of former Acting Secretary of the Navy and Cleveland native, Thomas Modly, christened the ship.
“A side launch, like you saw behind you, is the way that human beings have been launching ships literally for millennia, it was the first way a large vessel could be launched… but for the building of a modern warship that leaves quite a bit to be desired,” says Fincantieri CEO, Mark Vandroff.
Fincantieri is now working on a new launch for the frigates, which are the next generation of ships following the littoral combat ships.
“We are very pleased that the Navy chose us to build the frigate I think those are great ships, the one they chose for us is based on a frigate designed for various European Navy’s,” says Vandroff.
And in doing so, they are working on constructing a new launch.
“The shiplift that you can see behind me is under construction, we are making great progress on it, I expect to have it done and certified before the end of 2023,” says Vandroff.
The first frigate is expected to be launched and christened in 2025, and completely finished in 2026.
Although it is in the water, the future USS Cleveland is not quite finished.
“As the ship is launched, production completion is about 85% so we’ve got more work to do and we have to go to test and trials,” says Program Director at Lockheed Martin, Chris Minster.
Vandroff says it was truly all hands on deck to get the future USS Cleveland in the water.
“It was a million hours of effort…I’ve got roughly 1,400 if you count both blue collar and white collar employees who come here everyday,” says Vandroff.
And Marinette Marine needs even more employees for the frigate.
It has already added 200 employees, and is looking for another 200.
