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[GruntFox]

Ummm... I've never heard that the complaint of Constellation was it was "too heavy" or "too expensive". Definitely taking too long, can't argue there.

Largely because people forget that US shipyards are pretty much obsolete at this point, and require extensive upgrades to even hope to be modernized.

That's why the program was so expensive, as it hid a shipyard upgrade program within it.

 

[TomS]

Ummm... I've never heard that the complaint of Constellation was it was "too heavy" or "too expensive". Definitely taking too long, can't argue there.

The explicit rationale for the Constellation cancellation offered by the Secretary of the Navy was that it was too expensive compared to the DDG-51 considering its capability (70% of the cost for 60% of the capability I believe were his figures) . You can also find many critiques that it was too large for its "firepower" (usually just counting VLS cells).

A T26 is literally within 5% of the full load displacement of a Flight II DDG-51 (possibly even heavier, given the reports of weight gain in the Hunters), and about 3 meters shorter, with the same or fewer VLS cells as the Constellation. And unit cost is running about the same as a DDG-51 Flight III if not more, depending on how you do the math.

 

[Ainen]

A T26 is literally within 5% of the full load displacement of a Flight II DDG-51 (possibly even heavier, given the reports of weight gain in the Hunters), and about 3 meters shorter, with the same or fewer VLS cells as the Constellation. And unit cost is running about the same as a DDG-51 Flight III if not more, depending on how you do the math.

T26 is fully separated/complementary to T45 though.

Constellation was a true balanced multirole, which brought up comparisons.
T31 in this case is probably a better comparison, and it managed clear cost separation(i.e. justification) much better.

 

[TomS]

T26 is fully separated/complementary to T45 though.

Constellation was a true balanced multirole, which brought up comparisons.
T31 in this case is probably a better comparison, and it managed clear cost separation(i.e. justification) much better.

Sure, just pointing to the problem of proposing the T26 as a USN frigate.