Name announced for US Navy's tenth Constellation-class frigate

US Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro has announced that a future Constellation-class guided missile-frigate, FFG 69, will be named USS Joy Bright Hancock.

The tenth Constellation-class frigate honours the late Captain Joy Bright Hancock, who served as director of the US Navy's Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) program in 1946. This will be the first US Navy vessel to be named after Hancock.

Upon completion, the FFG will have a length of 496 feet (151 metres), a beam of 65 feet (20 metres), and a crew complement of 200. A combined diesel-electric and gas (CODLAG) propulsion arrangement consisting of a GE LM2500 gas turbine and four MTU diesel generators will deliver a maximum speed of 26 knots.

The Constellation-class frigates to be manufactured by Fincantieri Marinette Marine will be variants of the European Multi-Mission Frigates (Fregate Europeenne Multimissions; FREMM) designed and built jointly by French defence shipbuilder the Naval Group and Italy's Fincantieri for their respective countries' navies as well as export customers. The ships will be capable of anti-air warfare, anti-submarine warfare, surface warfare, electronic warfare, and information operations.