Abstract Friction Stir Welding has proven its merits for welding of aluminium alloys and is focused in expanding its material database to steel and titanium and also to assess new joint configurations. The use of welded structures in shipbuilding industry has a long tradition and continuously seeks for innovation in terms of materials and processes maintaining, or even, reducing costs. Several studies have been performed in the past years on FSW of steel. However, just recently were reported defect-free welds, free of martensite with stable parameters in steel without Primer. FSW of steel with primer has not been addressed. This work aims to fulfil a knowledge gap related to the use of friction stir for welding shipbuilding steel by analysing the effect of welding parameters on the metallurgical characteristics and mechanical properties of welds obtained with an innovative FSW tool in joining steel plates with a primer. Welds were performed in 4mm thick GL-A36 steel plates painted with a zinc based primer followed by a detailed microscopic, chemical and mechanical analysis. The results that matching fatigue properties are obtained using this technique, in FSW of shipbuilding steel with Primer.