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Topic: Naval Warfare Blog Brand: The Buzz Region: Americas Tags: Battleships, Defense Industry, Donald Trump, North America, Shipbuilding, United States, and US Navy Trump Announces New Class of Battleships—Named for Himself December 23, 2025 By: Peter Suciu
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The hypothetical Trump-class battleship would displace between 30,000 and 40,000 tons—making them roughly two-thirds the size of the Iowa-class battleships of World War II.
On Monday afternoon, President Donald Trump unveiled a new proposed class of warships for the United States Navy, which he said would be necessary to replace the “old and tired and obsolete” fleet. Trump called for modern “battleships”—which, in typical fashion for the 47th president, would be dubbed the Trump class.
“They’ll help maintain American military supremacy, revive the American shipbuilding industry, and inspire fear in America’s enemies all over the world,” Trump said from the library of his Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida, where he was flanked by renderings of the future warships.
“The US Navy will lead the design of these ships along with me, because I’m a very aesthetic person,” Trump added.
The White House’s official social media account shared renderings of the vessels, with the caption “Navy’s new class of Large Surface Combatants: THE BATTLESHIP. The most lethal surface combatant ever constructed.”
The first new “battleship” would be named the USS Defiant (BBG-1)
“The future Trump-class battleship—the USS Defiant—will be the largest, deadliest and most versatile and best-looking warship anywhere on the world’s oceans,” Secretary of the Navy John Phelan said during the presentation. “Now there will be work for shipyards everywhere from Philadelphia to San Diego, from Maine to Mississippi, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast, and for manufacturers that will build components for this battleship in every state.”
Trump also called for a new class of aircraft carriers, but offered few details.
The US Navy’s second Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier, the USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79), is now being fitted out and set for delivery by 2027. Two additional carriers of the class, the future USS Enterprise (CVN-80) and the USS Doris Miller (CVN-81), are now under construction, and two more—to be named for former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush—are on order.
What We Know About the “Trump-Class Battleship”
The president has called for the construction of a “Golden Fleet” to allow the United States Navy to better counter China and other threats. At the center of this new fleet of attractive warships (because appearance is important to the president) would be as many as 25 Trump-class battleships.
Trump stated that each of the future surface combatants would display between 30,000 and 40,000 tons, making them smaller than the Iowa-class battleships built during the Second World War, but still significantly larger than the Zumwalt-class destroyers that each displace approximately 15,000 tons.
According to the released specifications, the warships would be 840 to 880 feet in length, with a beam of 105-115 ft, and crewed by 650 to 850 sailors.
The main battery would include a surface-launched cruise missile (SLCM-N) with 12 cells, a CPS (conventional prompt strike) with 12 cells, and 128 cells of Mk 41 VLS (vertical launching systems), and would be capable of launching hypersonic missiles. Other armament could include electric rail guns and lasers. If actually constructed, it would mark the first time since the Cold War that US Navy warships carried nuclear weapons.
Will Trump’s Battleship Ever Leave the Drawing Board? Probably Not
Almost as soon as the announcement was made, pundits jumped in to explain why we will likely never see a Trump-class battleship completed. At the earliest, construction couldn’t begin until the early 2030s, by which time Trump will be out of office.
It is unclear how long it would even take to design such warships. Politico observed that there was “no funding in the current Pentagon budget” for either the battleship or the proposed second class of carriers—”making it unclear when and how the work would start on either effort.”
Trump suggested on Monday that the first ship could be built in “two and a half years,” but he has laid out a similar timeline for the White House ballroom and for converting the “donated” 747 jetliner from Qatar into the presidential aircraft.
Since returning to the White House nearly a year ago, Trump has remained focused on strengthening the US military and the defense industrial base, which has struggled to meet deadlines. Trump will need lawmakers’ support to make the battleship program a reality, but, as Politico noted, it could “generate substantial momentum in a Congress looking to add American jobs.”
Or if the Democrats gain control of Congress next year, the program will instantly be a nonstarter. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle don’t need to be reminded that the US Navy has struggled with nearly all of its recent programs, and last month scuttled the Constellation-class frigate program.
The last thing the sea service needs is to start another program that is already dead in the water. There are already plenty of reasons why a battleship is the wrong course of action in the 21st century.
USNI News noted, “The US industrial base has not delivered a battleship to the Navy since 1944, when the 60,000-ton USS Missouri (BB-63) was turned over to the Navy.”
Trump has suggested robots could build the future battleships, but it could take a decade or longer to have the infrastructure in place.
Battleships Are Not the Future of Warfare
Even if the issues with building warships are resolved, critics have noted that battleships were largely rendered obsolete by carrier-based aircraft. The US Navy doesn’t need large lumbering targets, which is why the focus has been on smaller unmanned systems. China has developed intermediate-range anti-ship ballistic missiles dubbed “carrier killers,” which would take out US Navy flattops and could just as easily strike a future Trump-class battle wagon before it could get within range to use its primary weapons.
Much of the technology proposed for the warships is still in early development and is not ready for use in regular service. The US Navy has yet to resolve the challenges of powering railguns and lasers, and has not developed a successful hypersonic weapon.
The US Navy learned an expensive lesson with the Zumwalt-class destroyers. It designed a new and advanced class of warship built around an unproven weapon. When the program was scaled back, the weapon was too expensive to use.
The Pentagon knows all of this. But it also knows that the second Trump administration is one quarter into its term. It can drag out this program for three years, and the next administration, even if it is a handpicked successor of Trump, will likely cancel the program.
About the Author: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu has contributed over 3,200 published pieces to more than four dozen magazines and websites over a 30-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a contributing writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: Editor@nationalinterest.org.
Image: Wikimedia Commons.
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Источник: nationalinterest.org