US President Donald Trump, flanked by Navy Secretary John Phelan (R), pronounces the US Navy’s new Golden Fleet initiative, unveiling a brand new class of frigates, at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Seashore, Florida, on December 22, 2025.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | Afp | Getty Pictures
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled plans for a brand new “Trump-class” battleship, declaring it will be “the quickest, the most important, and by far, 100 occasions extra highly effective than any battleship ever constructed.”
He hailed the ships as “among the most deadly floor warfare ships,” promising they’d “assist preserve American army supremacy [and] encourage worry in America’s enemies everywhere in the world.”
However there may be one evident drawback: battleships have been out of date for many years. The final was constructed greater than 80 years in the past, and the U.S. Navy retired the final Iowa-class ships practically 30 years in the past.
As soon as symbols of naval would possibly with their large weapons, battleships have lengthy since been eclipsed by plane carriers and trendy destroyers armed with long-range missiles.
Whereas labeling the brand new floor combatants as “battleships” could possibly be a misnomer, protection specialists say that there stay a number of gaps between Trump’s imaginative and prescient and trendy naval warfare.
Mark Cancian, a senior adviser on the Heart for Strategic and Worldwide Research, dismissed the concept, writing in a Dec. 23 commentary that “there may be no use for mentioned dialogue as a result of this ship won’t ever sail.”
He argued this system would take too lengthy to design, value far an excessive amount of, and run counter to the Navy’s present technique of distributed firepower.
“A future administration will cancel this system earlier than the primary ship hits the water,” Cancian mentioned.
Bernard Lavatory, senior fellow at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam Faculty of Worldwide Research, described the proposal as “a status mission greater than anything.”
He in contrast it to Japan’s World Conflict II super-battleships Yamato and Musashi — the most important ever constructed — which had been sunk by carrier-borne plane earlier than enjoying a big position in fight.
{Photograph} of the IJN Yamato, the lead ship of the Yamato class of battleships that served with the Imperial Japanese Navy throughout World Conflict II. Dated 1941. (Photograph by: Photo12/Common Pictures Group by way of Getty Pictures)
Photograph 12 | Common Pictures Group | Getty Pictures
“Traditionally, we checked out battleships and the larger the higher… [and] in a really layman’s perspective of technique, measurement issues,” Lavatory mentioned.
He added that the scale of the proposed battleship — displacing greater than 35,000 tons and measuring over 840 ft, or just a little over two soccer fields lengthy — would make it a “bomb magnet.”
“The scale and the status worth of all of it make it an much more tempting goal, probably on your adversary,” Lavatory mentioned.
Bryan Clark, a senior fellow on the Hudson Institute, recommended Trump could also be drawn to the symbolic energy of battleships, which had been probably the most seen icons of naval firepower for a lot of the twentieth century.
The united statesMissouri, accomplished in 1944 and the final U.S. battleship constructed, famously hosted Japan’s give up in 1945.
Japanese give up signatories arrive aboard the united statesMissouri to take part in give up ceremonies, Tokyo Bay, Japan, U.S. Military Sign Corps, September 2, 1945. (Photograph by: Circa Pictures/GHI/Common Historical past Archive/Common Pictures Group by way of Getty Pictures)
Common Historical past Archive | Common Pictures Group | Getty Pictures
Clark famous that the U.S. Navy recommissioned 4 World Conflict II battleships within the Nineteen Eighties as a part of its 600-ship fleet enlargement technique through the Chilly Conflict to counter the Soviet Union. “This can be an period during which the president believes the U.S. final had naval supremacy.”
Battleships final noticed fight in 1991, when retrofitted Iowa-class battleships supplied shore bombardment hearth help to coalition forces within the first Gulf Conflict.
The battleship USS Wisconsin (BB-64) launches a BGM-109 Tomahawk missile towards a goal in Iraq throughout Operation Desert Storm. (Photograph by © CORBIS/Corbis by way of Getty Pictures)
Historic | Corbis Historic | Getty Pictures
What’s in a reputation?
Clark famous that the classification issues lower than the weapons a ship carries.
In line with the U.S. Navy, the “Trump-class” battleship, which might be a part of a brand new “golden fleet” of warships, might be geared up with weapons reminiscent of typical weapons and missiles, in addition to digital rail weapons and laser-based weaponry. It can additionally have the ability to carry nuclear and hypersonic missiles.
Such a vessel would basically perform like a big destroyer, no matter whether or not it’s referred to as a battleship.
Nevertheless, CSIS’ Cancian countered that such a design runs towards the Navy’s distributed operations mannequin, which seeks to cut back vulnerability by spreading firepower throughout many belongings.
“This proposal would go within the different course, constructing a small variety of giant, costly, and probably susceptible belongings,” he wrote.
Even when the “Trump-class” battleship proves technically possible, analysts mentioned value can be the decisive impediment.
Lavatory mentioned U.S. weapons applications routinely exceed timelines and budgets.
The Navy’s Zumwalt‑class destroyers — the most important floor combatants at the moment at 15,000 tons — had been diminished from 32 to 3 ships as a result of spiraling prices. Extra not too long ago, the Constellation‑class frigate was cancelled as a result of design and workforce challenges.
Clark estimated the Trump‑class would value two to 3 occasions greater than right this moment’s destroyers. With Arleigh‑Burke destroyers priced at about $2.7 billion every, that suggests a single battleship may value upwards of $8 billion.
The price of crewing and sustaining them will put extra strain on an already strained Navy price range, he added.
RSIS Lavatory was extra important in his evaluation, calling the choice a strategic mistake. “On the very least, so far as I am involved, it is strategic hubris.”
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