Photo: Rolls-Royce
Sometime next year, a company by the name Fincantieri Marinette Marine is expected to begin production of a new class of American Navy frigates called Constellation. With not that much time left until then, the company is hard at work assigning contracts for the various pieces of hardware that will go into these vessels.
The Constellation, also known as FFG-62, will comprise a series of vessels designed for air, anti-submarine, surface and electronic warfare. According to the available specs, they should be capable of carrying up to 200 crew. The 500-feet long (152 meters) vessel should also be capable of reaching speeds of up to 26 knots.
For that to happen though Constellation needs power, and last week Fincantieri decided what type of hardware will be in charge of generating it - the company announced it selected Rolls-Royce for the task.
Rolls will deliver diesel generators of the mtu variety to handle the ships’ propulsion and on-board power requirements. This hardware should provide 3,000 kWe at 1,800 rpm, and considering how four of them will be making their way into each vessel, that amounts to a staggering 12 MW of power.
For now, Rolls-Royce has been tapped with supplying just four mtus, but its involvement with the Constellation class ships goes well beyond that. Earlier in May, Rolls said it would be supplying all the propellers needed for the ships to move about in the water - 40 Rolls-Royce propellers will be delivered over the following years to Fincantieri, two for each of the 20 ships planned in this new class (10 in phase one of the program, and an additional 10 should phase two go ahead).
Construction of the first Constellation class frigate is expected to begin sometime next year, and the first one is expected to enter service in the second half of the decade.
For that to happen though Constellation needs power, and last week Fincantieri decided what type of hardware will be in charge of generating it - the company announced it selected Rolls-Royce for the task.
Rolls will deliver diesel generators of the mtu variety to handle the ships’ propulsion and on-board power requirements. This hardware should provide 3,000 kWe at 1,800 rpm, and considering how four of them will be making their way into each vessel, that amounts to a staggering 12 MW of power.
For now, Rolls-Royce has been tapped with supplying just four mtus, but its involvement with the Constellation class ships goes well beyond that. Earlier in May, Rolls said it would be supplying all the propellers needed for the ships to move about in the water - 40 Rolls-Royce propellers will be delivered over the following years to Fincantieri, two for each of the 20 ships planned in this new class (10 in phase one of the program, and an additional 10 should phase two go ahead).
Construction of the first Constellation class frigate is expected to begin sometime next year, and the first one is expected to enter service in the second half of the decade.
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