US President Donald Trump, flanked by Navy Secretary John Phelan (R), declares the US Navy’s new Golden Fleet initiative, unveiling a brand new class of frigates, at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Seaside, Florida, on December 22, 2025.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | Afp | Getty Photos
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled plans for a brand new “Trump-class” battleship, declaring it could be “the quickest, the largest, and by far, 100 occasions extra highly effective than any battleship ever constructed.”
He hailed the ships as “a number of the most deadly floor warfare ships,” promising they’d “assist preserve American navy supremacy [and] encourage concern in America’s enemies all around the world.”
However there may be one obtrusive downside: battleships have been out of date for many years.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 almost 30 years in the past.
As soon as symbols of naval may with their huge weapons, battleships have lengthy since been eclipsed by plane carriers and fashionable destroyers armed with long-range missiles.
Whereas labeling the brand new floor combatants as “battleships” may very well be a misnomer, protection specialists say that there stay a number of gaps between Trump’s imaginative and prescient and fashionable 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 need for mentioned dialogue as a result of this ship won’t ever sail.”
He argued this system would take too lengthy to design, price 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 Bathroom, senior fellow at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam College of Worldwide Research, described the proposal as “a status undertaking greater than anything.”
He in contrast it to Japan’s World Conflict II super-battleships Yamato and Musashi — the biggest ever constructed — which had been sunk by carrier-borne plane earlier than enjoying a major function 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 Photos Group by way of Getty Photos)
Photograph 12 | Common Photos Group | Getty Photos
“Traditionally, we checked out battleships and the larger the higher… [and] in a really layman’s perspective of technique, measurement issues,” Bathroom mentioned.
He added that the dimensions of the proposed battleship — displacing greater than 35,000 tons and measuring over 840 ft, or a little bit 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 in your adversary,” Bathroom mentioned.
Bryan Clark, a senior fellow on the Hudson Institute, instructed 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 usMissouri to take part in give up ceremonies, Tokyo Bay, Japan, U.S. Military Sign Corps, September 2, 1945. (Photograph by: Circa Photos/GHI/Common Historical past Archive/Common Photos Group by way of Getty Photos)
Common Historical past Archive | Common Photos Group | Getty Photos
Clark famous that the U.S. Navy recommissioned 4 World Conflict II battleships within the 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 assist to coalition forces within the first Gulf Conflict.
The battleship USS Wisconsin (BB-64) launches a BGM-109 Tomahawk missile in opposition to a goal in Iraq throughout Operation Desert Storm. (Photograph by © CORBIS/Corbis by way of Getty Photos)
Historic | Corbis Historic | Getty Photos
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 — a part of a brand new “golden fleet” of warships — can be outfitted with weapons reminiscent of standard weapons and missiles, in addition to digital rail weapons and laser-based weaponry. It should additionally be capable to carry nuclear and hypersonic missiles.
Such a vessel would primarily operate like a big destroyer, no matter whether or not it’s referred to as a battleship.
Nonetheless, CSIS’ Cancian countered that such a design runs in opposition to the Navy’s distributed operations mannequin, which seeks to cut back vulnerability by spreading firepower throughout many property.
“This proposal would go within the different course, constructing a small variety of massive, costly, and probably susceptible property,” he wrote.
Even when the “Trump-class” battleship proves technically possible, analysts mentioned price could be the decisive impediment.
Bathroom mentioned U.S. weapons applications routinely exceed timelines and budgets.
The Navy’s Zumwalt‑class destroyers — the biggest floor combatants at present at 15,000 tons — had been diminished from 32 to 3 ships as a consequence of spiraling prices. Extra just lately, the Constellation‑class frigate was cancelled as a consequence of design and workforce challenges.
Clark estimated the Trump‑class would price 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 price upwards of $8 billion.
The price of crewing and sustaining them will put extra stress on an already strained Navy funds, he added.
RSIS Bathroom 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.”
