U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans on Monday for a “golden fleet” of what he described as “desperately” needed Navy ships, including two “very large battleships” to replace “old and tired and obsolete” vessels.
The new ships will be “100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built” and would feature both missiles and more traditional naval guns, Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, alongside U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Navy Secretary John Phelan.
The battleships, which are to weigh 30,000 to 40,000 tons and be completed in the “early 2030s,” are to be equipped with advanced weapons, such as hypersonic missiles, electric rail guns, high-powered laser systems and nuclear-capable cruise missiles, as well as updated defensive systems, per the Pentagon.
The president said that the aim is to have 20 to 25 such ships.
“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,” Phelan said.
“We haven’t built a battleship since 1994,” Trump said. “These cutting-edge vessels will be some of the most lethal surface warfare ships.”
Work will begin right away to have two ships operational within two-and-a-half years, Trump said.
The Navy has been plagued by shipbuilding delays, and experts have long warned of its aging fleet. Some analysts say that large surface ships are a liability, due to their vulnerability to modern missiles, and favor smaller, more mobile ships with the capability to launch drones.
Some saw the announcement as a message to China, but Trump said that the new fleet is “a counter to everybody.”
“It’s not China,” he said. “We get along great with China.”
Trump sent additional warships to the Middle East in June to protect Israel from Iranian attacks. Last week, a U.S. Navy warship in the Middle East launched a one-way attack drone for the first time.
