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Fincantieri Marinette Marine (FMM) is an American shipbuilding firm in Marinette, Wisconsin. Marinette Marine was a subsidiary of Manitowoc Marine Group of Wisconsin from 2000 to 2009, when it was sold to Fincantieri Marine Group. [1]
Marinette Marine Corporation (MMC) was founded on the Menominee River in Marinette, Wisconsin, in 1942 as part of the growth in the American shipbuilding industry during World War II. [2]
In 2000, Marinette Marine, a privately held company, was purchased by The Manitowoc Company for approximately $48 million. In August 2008, the Manitowoc Company announced that it had signed an agreement to sell their Manitowoc Marine Group division, which includes Marinette Marine, to Fincantieri Marine Group Holdings, Inc. and minority investor Lockheed Martin. [3] The sale was completed in January 2009, to Fincantieri. The net purchase price in the all-cash deal was approximately $120 million. [4]
Since its founding, Marinette Marine has produced more than 1,300 vessels. While primarily a producer of commercial vessels, it has also taken a number of contracts for the United States Navy, primarily for auxiliary vessels. Most recently, Marinette Marine became part of a team with Lockheed Martin to produce one of two littoral combat ship designs for the Navy, resulting in the launch of the USS Freedom in September 2006. In 2010, Marinette Marine bid for work on the Ship-to-Shore Connector, which would replace the Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC). [5]
In April 2020, it was announced that Fincantieri Marinette Marine had won the contract to produce the United States Navy new Constellation-class multimission guided-missile frigate.
In 2019, Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia spoke at Marinette Marine Shipyard, praising the Trump administration's support for American manufacturing industries and vocational education. [6] [7] One year later, during the 2020 presidential election, President Donald Trump held a re-election rally at the shipyard, with Wisconsin State Assembly representatives John Nygren and Mary Felzkowski touting his administration's manufacturing policy, military expansion, and the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement. [8] [9]
As of 2023 [update] , Fincantieri Marinette Marine is planning to overhaul and expand its yard facilities as part of winning a contract to construct the Constellation-class frigates. The changes will accommodate the larger size of the frigates versus the littoral combat ships, and will alter the way the yard launches ships. [10]
All Marinette Marine facilities are located on the Menominee River in Marinette, Wisconsin. Some of the specific facilities they comprise are as follows:
Ships built by Marinette Marine include:
The United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) use a hull classification symbol to identify their ships by type and by individual ship within a type. The system is analogous to the pennant number system that the Royal Navy and other European and Commonwealth navies use.
A littoral combat ship (LCS) is either of two classes of relatively small surface vessels designed for near-shore operations by the United States Navy. It was "envisioned to be a networked, agile, stealthy surface combatant capable of defeating anti-access and asymmetric threats in the littorals", although their ability to perform these missions in practice has been called into question.
Fleet Week is a United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, and United States Coast Guard tradition in which active military ships recently deployed in overseas operations dock in a variety of major cities for one week. Once the ships dock, the crews can enter the city and visit its tourist attractions. At certain hours, the public can take a guided tour of the ships. Often, Fleet Week is accompanied by military demonstrations and air shows such as those provided by the Blue Angels.
The names of commissioned ships of the United States Navy all start with USS, for United States Ship. Non-commissioned, primarily civilian-crewed vessels of the U.S. Navy under the Military Sealift Command have names that begin with USNS, standing for United States Naval Ship. A letter-based hull classification symbol is used to designate a vessel's type. The names of ships are selected by the Secretary of the Navy. The names are those of states, cities, towns, important persons, important locations, famous battles, fish, and ideals. Usually, different types of ships have names originated from different types of sources.
The FREMM, which stands for "European multi-purpose frigate", is a Franco-Italian family of multi-purpose frigates designed by Naval Group and Fincantieri. In France, this surface combatant is known as the "Aquitaine class", while in Italy it is known as the "Bergamini class". The lead ship of the class, Aquitaine, was commissioned in November 2012 by the French Navy. Italy has ordered six general purpose and four anti-submarine variants. France, on the other hand, has ordered six anti-submarine variants and two air-defense ones.
Gibbs & Cox is an American naval architecture firm that specializes in designing surface warships. Founded in 1922 in New York City, Gibbs & Cox is now headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.
The Freedom class is one of two classes of the littoral combat ship program, built for the United States Navy.
USS Little Rock (LCS-9) was a Freedom-class littoral combat ship (LCS) of the United States Navy. She is the second ship named after Little Rock, the capital city of Arkansas.
USS Sioux City (LCS-11) was a Freedom-class littoral combat ship of the United States Navy. She is the first ship named after Sioux City, the fourth-largest city in Iowa.
USS Billings (LCS-15) is a Freedom-class littoral combat ship of the United States Navy. She is the first ship in naval service named after Billings, Montana.
USS Cooperstown (LCS-23) is a Freedom-class littoral combat ship of the United States Navy. She is the first naval ship named after Cooperstown, New York.
USS Marinette (LCS-25) is a Freedom-class littoral combat ship of the United States Navy. She is the first commissioned ship, and second overall in naval service to be named after Marinette, Wisconsin, the other being Marinette (YTB-791), a Natick-class large fleet tugboat.
The Constellation-class multi-mission guided-missile frigates of the United States Navy are based on the European multipurpose frigates (FREMM), already in service with the French and Italian navies. Constellation follows the modular but problematic littoral combat ships of the Freedom and Independence classes. The U.S. Navy announced the FFG(X) frigate project in the United States Department of Defense's Request For Information (RFI) in July 2017.
USS Beloit (LCS-29) is a Freedom-class littoral combat ship of the United States Navy. She will be the first commissioned ship in naval service named after Beloit, Wisconsin. This honors the contributions Beloit has made to the US Navy, especially the engines built in its Fairbanks Morse plant, including USS Beloit's own powerplant.
USS Cleveland (LCS-31) is a Freedom-class littoral combat ship of the United States Navy. She is the fourth commissioned ship in naval service named after Cleveland, the second-largest city in Ohio.
USS Constellation (FFG-62) will be the lead ship of the Constellation class of guided-missile frigates and the fifth ship in the United States Navy bearing this name. She is named in honor of the first USS Constellation, one of the original six frigates of the United States Navy, which was named for the constellation of stars on the flag of the United States. The ship will be sponsored by Melissa Braithwaite, the wife of Secretary of the Navy Kenneth Braithwaite.
USS Chesapeake (FFG-64) will be the third Constellation-class guided-missile frigate. The sixth ship in the United States Navy bearing this name, she will be built by Marinette Marine, a subsidiary of Fincantieri, with an expected completion date of August 2028. She is named in honor of the first USS Chesapeake, one of the original six frigates of the United States Navy. The ship will be sponsored by Barbara Strasser, the wife of Rear Admiral Joseph C. Strasser.
USS Lafayette (FFG-65) will be the fourth Constellation-class guided-missile frigate. The fourth ship in the United States Navy bearing this name, she will be built by Marinette Marine, a subsidiary of Fincantieri, with an expected completion date somewhere in 2029. The frigate is named in honor of Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, a French hero of the American Revolutionary War. Her name was announced on 29 June 2023 by Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro when he visited Paris.
