What’s happening: Naval Station Everett was promised 12 next-generation Constellation-class frigates that would have reshaped the base for decades. In late 2025, the Navy cancelled the program. Now, Snohomish County leaders have rebooted a Military Affairs Committee to fight for NAVSTA Everett’s future — and the stakes couldn’t be higher for Everett’s economy and identity.

A Promise Made, A Promise Broken

For years, Naval Station Everett had something rare in the defense world: a guarantee. In June 2021, the U.S. Navy formally announced that NAVSTA Everett would become the homeport for the first 12 Constellation-class guided-missile frigates (FFG-62), a new class of ships designed to restore America’s frigate capability and project naval power across the Pacific. It was a transformative commitment — the kind that brings hundreds of sailors, their families, infrastructure investment, and long-term economic stability to a military town.

That commitment is now off the table.

On November 25, 2025, Secretary of the Navy John Phelan announced the cancellation of the Constellation-class frigate program beyond its first two ships. His reasoning was blunt: the program was delivering only about 60 percent of a destroyer’s capability at roughly 80 percent of the cost, while running years behind schedule and hundreds of millions over budget. The first ship — USS Constellation (FFG-62) — was only approximately 12 percent complete and had slipped from a projected 2026 delivery to an estimated 2029 arrival, according to a November 2025 report to Congress.

For Everett, the cancellation wasn’t just a Navy procurement headline. It was a direct blow to the community’s vision of its own future.

What NAVSTA Everett Means to Snohomish County

Naval Station Everett isn’t just a base on the waterfront — it’s one of the largest economic engines in Snohomish County. The installation is home to approximately 6,000 military personnel and 500 civilian employees, and the Navy’s own regional estimates put the total annual economic impact of military operations in Snohomish County at roughly $340 million.

That figure includes everything from housing and groceries to car purchases, school enrollment, and the spending of military families throughout the county. The base sits among the top ten largest employers in the region — and when you add in the support contractors, service businesses, and retail that cater to the military community, the ripple effect is enormous.

The promise of 12 new frigates wasn’t just about ships. It was a roadmap for sustained growth: new sailors relocating to Everett, new housing demand, infrastructure upgrades to the base’s piers and support facilities, and the long-term certainty that NAVSTA Everett would remain a cornerstone of the Pacific Fleet. The cancellation stripped that roadmap away.

Snohomish County Fights Back: The Rebooted Military Affairs Committee

Everett’s response has been swift and organized. The Economic Alliance Snohomish County — the region’s primary economic development and advocacy organization — has resurrected its Military Affairs Committee specifically to advocate for Naval Station Everett in the wake of the frigate cancellation.

The Military Affairs Committee (MAC) serves as the county’s formal liaison to military affairs at every level — from local community support for sailors and their families all the way up to congressional offices and the Pentagon itself. The committee’s relaunch signals that Snohomish County isn’t prepared to sit back and watch Everett’s naval future be decided in Washington, D.C., without a local voice at the table.

This is exactly the kind of advocacy that can matter. Homeporting decisions for major naval vessels aren’t made years in advance — they’re typically made much closer to a ship’s commissioning date, which means there’s a real window for Everett to make its case for the new FF(X) frigate program now being developed by the Navy.

What Is the FF(X) — And Could It Come to Everett?

The Navy didn’t abandon the frigate concept when it killed the Constellation-class program. On December 19, 2025, Secretary Phelan announced the FF(X) program — a new frigate initiative that will be based on the design of the U.S. Coast Guard’s proven Legend-class National Security Cutter. The first FF(X) will be built by Huntington Ingalls Industries at its Pascagoula, Mississippi facility, with a target of having the first hull in the water by 2028.

The FY2026 defense appropriations bill, passed in February 2026, included $242 million in long-lead funding for the FF(X) program — canceling the last four planned Constellation-class frigates to redirect those resources to the new design. The Navy is planning 50 to 65 ships across multiple production flights, a fleet-building commitment that dwarfs the original Constellation program in scope.

Where those ships will be homeported is not yet decided. That’s the opening Everett is fighting for. The infrastructure already exists at NAVSTA Everett — piers, maintenance facilities, family support services, and a community that knows how to support a naval fleet. The argument for keeping Everett as the Pacific homeport for the new frigates is strong, but it won’t make itself.

What Happens to the First Two Constellation-Class Ships?

Under the cancellation plan, the first two Constellation-class frigates — currently under construction at Fincantieri Marinette Marine in Wisconsin — remain in progress, at least for now. But even those ships are under review. The Navy has not committed to completing them, and no homeport designation has been announced for either vessel. A Navy spokesperson confirmed to the Everett Daily Herald that no decision has been made on where those ships would be based if they are completed.

For Everett, this creates a layered uncertainty: the 12-ship promise is gone, the replacement program hasn’t designated homeports, and even the two surviving Constellation-class hulls are in limbo. That’s a lot of open questions for a community that had counted on a frigate fleet as part of its identity.

The Military Community Stays Strong

Amid the policy uncertainty, one thing isn’t changing: NAVSTA Everett remains an active, operational base with a dedicated military community. The base’s seven guided-missile destroyers continue their rotation of deployments and homecomings. The Fleet & Family Support Center continues serving sailors and their families. The base’s MWR programs, its connections to local schools, and its community presence remain intact.

Everett has always understood that being a military town means riding waves of policy change. Bases are built up and scaled back according to strategic priorities that shift with administrations, budgets, and geopolitical realities. What distinguishes communities that thrive through those changes is active advocacy — and that’s exactly what the rebooted Military Affairs Committee represents.

The fight for NAVSTA Everett’s future is just beginning. And if history is any guide, this community won’t go quietly.

Frequently Asked Questions

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Go Deeper: We’ve published detailed knowledge nodes expanding on this story for specific Everett audiences:

• NAVSTA Everett After the Frigate Cancellation: A Complete Guide to What’s at Stake
• What the Frigate Cancellation Means for Military Families at NAVSTA Everett
• Snohomish County’s $340M Fight: How Local Leaders Are Responding to the NAVSTA Frigate Loss

Q: What happened to the frigates coming to Naval Station Everett?
A: The Navy cancelled the Constellation-class frigate program in November 2025 after years of cost overruns and construction delays, ending a plan to homeport 12 new ships in Everett. Local leaders are now fighting to ensure the base secures a role in whatever comes next.

Naval Station Everett’s Fight for Its Future After the Frigate Program Collapse

For years, Naval Station Everett had a clearly defined destiny: become the Pacific homeport for 12 brand-new Constellation-class guided-missile frigates, transforming the base into one of the most significant surface combatant hubs on the West Coast. The frigates would bring thousands of additional sailors and their families to Snohomish County, generate billions in economic activity, and cement Everett’s identity as a Navy town well into the 21st century.

Then, on November 25, 2025, Secretary of the Navy John Phelan posted a message on social media: the Constellation-class frigate program was over.

The cancellation sent shockwaves through the Everett community — and set off a scramble that’s still playing out today.

What Happened to the Constellation-Class Frigates

The Constellation-class frigate program, designated FFG-62, was supposed to be the Navy’s answer to a capability gap in its surface fleet: a capable, affordable, medium-sized warship that could be produced faster and cheaper than the larger DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. Congress funded the program starting in 2020, and in 2021 the Navy selected Naval Station Everett as the future homeport for all 12 ships.

The problems began almost immediately. Construction of the lead ship, USS Constellation (FFG-62), began at Fincantieri Marinette Marine’s shipyard in Wisconsin — but the program struggled from the start to complete its functional design. Without design stability, construction stalled. By May 2024, the Government Accountability Office found that the first ship was running approximately three years behind its original schedule, with delivery pushed to at least April 2029 instead of the originally planned July 2026.

Costs climbed alongside the delays. The lead ship had gained nearly 759 tons of additional weight compared to original specifications, and the price tag ballooned. Secretary Phelan’s blunt assessment: “The Constellation-class frigate was canceled because, candidly, it didn’t make sense anymore to build it. It was 80 percent of the cost of a destroyer and 60 percent of the capability.”

Construction on the first two ships — USS Constellation (FFG-62) and one follow-on hull — will continue to completion. But homeporting decisions for those ships have not been made, and may not be made until much closer to their eventual commissioning dates. The remaining ships on order have been cancelled entirely.

What It Means for Everett

Naval Station Everett currently employs approximately 6,000 military personnel and 500 civilian workers, making it one of Snohomish County’s largest employers. The base’s economic footprint touches everything from local housing markets to small businesses that cater to military families.

The frigate program had been expected to dramatically expand that footprint. New personnel would have created demand for thousands of additional housing units, strained and eventually grown local schools, and generated ripple effects throughout the regional economy. The Navy had already secured $19 million from Congress to build 88 new family-style military homes at the Navy Support Complex in Smokey Point — 11 miles north of the main base in Marysville — specifically to prepare for the incoming frigate crews and their families. That construction was anticipated to begin in early 2026.

With the program cancelled, the region now faces a more uncertain equation. The housing investment may still proceed, but the population surge that justified it is on hold. And the question of what Naval Station Everett’s long-term mission will look like — with or without new frigates — is very much unanswered.

Everett Leaders Push Back

The response from Snohomish County’s political and economic leadership has been forceful, if not always optimistic.

Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA), whose district includes Naval Station Everett and who has spent years advocating for the base on Capitol Hill, called the cancellation “disheartening” but immediately redirected his focus toward the future. In an interview in December 2025, Larsen said Naval Station Everett is “uniquely situated” to receive whatever next-generation frigates the Navy ultimately develops — pointing to the same geographic, logistical, and strategic advantages that originally made Everett the Navy’s choice for the Constellation-class ships.

Larsen has since been pressing defense officials to ensure that Everett is at the front of the line when homeporting decisions are made for the Navy’s new FF(X) program — the replacement frigate concept based on the Coast Guard’s Legend-class National Security Cutter. Congress has already appropriated $242 million in long-lead funding for the first FF(X) ships, and the program is moving forward, though no homeporting decisions have been announced.

On the local advocacy front, the Economic Alliance Snohomish County has re-activated its Military Affairs Committee — a group that had previously gone dormant — specifically to serve as what organizers called “a coordinated regional voice that understands both the national security implications and the local economic impacts” of decisions affecting the base. Representatives from the Port of Everett, the City of Everett, Snohomish County government, and the Economic Alliance have all been making trips to Washington, D.C., to make the case for Naval Station Everett’s continued relevance.

The FF(X) Program: Everett’s Next Best Hope

The Navy’s replacement frigate concept, officially called FF(X), represents a significant philosophical shift from the Constellation-class approach. Rather than designing an entirely new ship from scratch — the approach that led to the Constellation’s cost and timeline disasters — the FF(X) will be based on an existing, proven design: the Coast Guard’s 418-foot Legend-class National Security Cutter, built by Huntington Ingalls Industries.

The theory is straightforward: use a design that’s already been built, add naval combat systems, and avoid the years of engineering uncertainty that plagued the Constellation program. The FF(X) program was announced in December 2025, with Huntington Ingalls Industries named as the builder.

No homeporting decisions have been made. The first FF(X) ships won’t be ready for years. But the Navy’s shift to a more producible design gives Everett advocates something concrete to fight for — and a program that at least has a realistic path to completion.

What the Base Means to This Community

Beyond the economics and the politics, it’s worth pausing to remember what Naval Station Everett actually is: a community. Roughly 6,000 service members and their families live, work, and raise children in Snohomish County. They fill the bleachers at high school football games. They shop at local businesses. Their spouses navigate the particular challenges of military life — frequent moves, long deployments, career uncertainty — often far from extended family.

The Everett Vet Center, located at 1010 SE Everett Mall Way, provides confidential counseling and support for veterans, service members, and their families. The Snohomish County Veterans’ Assistance Program serves as a single portal for veterans seeking help with emergency financial assistance, employment, and benefits navigation. These aren’t abstract institutions — they’re the connective tissue of a military community that has made its home here.

Whatever happens with frigates and fleet allocations in the years ahead, that community isn’t going anywhere. The men and women of Naval Station Everett serve with distinction. Their families carry significant burdens with quiet strength. And the people of Everett have, by and large, embraced them as neighbors.

That relationship is worth fighting for — which is exactly what Everett’s leaders say they intend to do.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Naval Station Everett at risk of closing?

There are no current indications of closure. The base remains active with approximately 6,000 military personnel and 500 civilian employees. While the cancellation of the Constellation-class frigate program is a setback, local and congressional leaders are actively advocating for the base to receive future naval assets.

What happened to the 12 frigates that were supposed to come to Everett?

The Constellation-class frigate program was cancelled by the Secretary of the Navy in November 2025 due to construction delays and cost overruns. Only the first two ships (FFG-62 and FFG-63) will be completed; the remaining 10 planned ships have been cancelled.

Will Everett still get new ships?

It’s possible but not confirmed. The Navy has launched a new FF(X) frigate program based on the Coast Guard’s National Security Cutter design. No homeporting decisions have been made, but Rep. Rick Larsen and other local leaders are advocating for Naval Station Everett to be a priority homeport.

What is the FF(X) frigate?

The FF(X) is the Navy’s next-generation small surface combatant, intended to replace the cancelled Constellation-class. It will be built by Huntington Ingalls Industries and based on the Legend-class National Security Cutter design. Congress approved $242 million in long-lead funding for the program in early 2026.

What military housing is being built near Naval Station Everett?

Congress approved $19 million to construct 88 new family-style military homes at the Navy Support Complex in Smokey Point (Marysville), originally intended to house families of incoming frigate crews. The status of that construction in light of the frigate cancellation has not been formally announced.

How does Naval Station Everett affect the local economy?

The base employs approximately 6,000 military personnel and 500 civilian workers, making it one of Snohomish County’s largest employers. Military families’ spending, housing needs, and community engagement generate significant economic activity throughout the region.

What is the Economic Alliance Snohomish County doing about the frigate cancellation?

The Economic Alliance has reactivated its Military Affairs Committee to advocate for the base at the federal level, coordinating with the Port of Everett, City of Everett, and Snohomish County to present a unified regional voice in Washington, D.C.

See also: NAVSTA Everett After the Frigate Collapse: What the Base Fights For Next | What the Frigate Cancellation Means for Military Families at NAVSTA Everett