President Donald Trump announced Monday the U.S. will build a new generation of “Trump class” battleships, in an effort to advance his vision of building a “Golden Fleet.”
Trump, flanked by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Navy Secretary John Phelan and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, said construction of two vessels would start “almost immediately,” with the eventual goal of expanding to a fleet of 20 to 25.
The president framed his eponymously named battleships as the “largest” to ever be built.
“They’ll be the fastest, the biggest and by far, 100 times more powerful,” Trump said during his remarks at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
“We’re desperately in need of ships. Our ships are — some of them have gotten old and tired and obsolete — and we’re going to go in the exact opposite direction,” he continued. “The U.S. Navy will lead the design of these ships, along with me because I’m a very aesthetic person.”
Trump has long conveyed his gripe about the aesthetics of Navy ship designs. During a visit to a shipyard during his first term in office, the president said the ships they were building “look terrible” and that he personally got involved to change the model.
Trump revealed the weapons systems would include high-powered laser technology, nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missiles and hypersonic weapons.
The Navy secretary said the new vessels were “just one piece of the president’s Golden Fleet that we’re going to build.”
“A new frigate, the right frigate, the one our warfighters have told us they need,” Phelan said. “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.”
“The Iowa was designed to go on the attack with the biggest guns. And that’s exactly what will define the Trump-class battleship,” Phelan added.
Trump’s announcement comes on the heels of a separate notice Friday that the sea service would be pursuing a new class of smaller, more agile combatant ships.
The first hull of the future FF(X) class, which will be based on the U.S. Coast Guard’s Legend-class National Security Cutter design, is expected to hit the water in 2028 as a more nimble companion to the Navy’s larger warships, Phelan said in a Dec. 19 video announcement.
“To deliver at speed and scale, I’ve directed the acquisition of a new frigate class based on [the design by Huntington Ingalls Industries],” Phelan said, “a proven, American-built ship that has been protecting U.S. interests at home and abroad. President Trump and the secretary of war have signed off on this as part of the Golden Fleet.”
The service is touting the FF(X) as a “highly adaptable vessel” capable of carrying out tasks ranging from surface warfare missions and modular payload transport to unmanned systems operations.
Recent warship deployments to places like the Red Sea and Caribbean have served as glaring reminders of the service’s need for a more flexible frigate class, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle said in the announcement.
“Our small surface combatant inventory is a third of what we need,” Caudle said. “We need more capable blue-water small combatants to close the gap and keep our [guided-missile destroyers] focused on the high-end fight.”
The latest Navy developments come as the Trump administration has intensified pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government, steadily increasing the U.S. naval presence in the region over the past several months.
On Saturday, officials reported the seizure of a second vessel in international waters, and the Coast Guard is pursuing an oil tanker near Venezuela as part of the ongoing operations.
Last week, Trump declared “a total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going into and out of Venezuela.”
J.D. Simkins is the executive editor of Military Times and Defense News, and a Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War.
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