Trump Unveils New Battleship Class to Anchor Future Golden Fleet
Palm Beach, Tuesday, 23 December 2025.
President Trump announced the construction of “Trump class” battleships, massive surface combatants armed with hypersonic and nuclear missiles, designed to restore American maritime dominance through the ambitious “Golden Fleet” initiative.
Unveiling the “Golden Fleet”
On Monday, December 22, 2025, President Donald Trump formally introduced the “Trump class” battleship concept at Mar-a-Lago, flanked by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Secretary of the Navy John C. Phelan [1][2]. This announcement marks the centerpiece of the administration’s “Golden Fleet,” a strategic initiative intended to revitalize American naval power through the construction of advanced surface combatants [2][6]. The lead vessel, christened the USS Defiant (BBG 1), is slated to be the first of an initial two-ship procurement, with the administration outlining an ambitious long-term goal of fielding between 20 and 25 of these battleships [3][6]. While the President described the new class as “100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built,” the initiative also represents a significant shift in procurement policy, moving away from smaller vessels to establish a fleet of larger, more lethal combatants [2][5].
Technological Leap in Naval Warfare
The proposed technical specifications for the Trump class suggest a heavy emphasis on next-generation weaponry and power generation. The vessels are designed to carry nuclear-armed Sea-Launched Cruise Missiles (SLCM-N) and Conventional Prompt Strike hypersonic missiles, positioning them as strategic assets capable of delivering long-range fires [1][6]. According to released details, the ships will also feature directed energy weapons, including 300 to 600 kW lasers and a 32 MJ railgun, alongside traditional 5-inch guns and a vertical launch system housing 128 cells [6]. This array of weaponry is intended to allow the ship to operate in an Integrated Air and Missile Defense role or to command its own Surface Action Group, independent of a carrier strike group [1].
Analyzing the “Largest” Claim
Despite President Trump’s assertion that these will be the “largest battleship in the history of the world,” a comparison of the announced displacement figures against historical data reveals a more nuanced reality [3]. The new Trump class is projected to displace approximately 35,000 tons, with some estimates ranging between 27,215 and upwards of 36,287 metric tons [6][7]. In contrast, the historic Iowa-class battleships, which the Navy modernized in the 1980s and decommissioned in the 1990s, displaced roughly 60,000 tons [4][7]. This data indicates that the new “Trump class” would actually be roughly -41.667% lighter than the Iowa class vessels they are spiritually succeeding, suggesting that the claim of being the “largest” may refer to technological capability or dimensions other than sheer mass.
Strategic Context and Industrial Mobilization
The push for the Golden Fleet arrives amidst heightened geopolitical tensions, specifically in the Western Hemisphere. The announcement followed the U.S. seizure of a vessel in international waters off the coast of Venezuela on December 20, 2025, prompting President Trump to declare the new armada a “counter to everybody” [3]. To support this naval expansion, the administration has adopted a “Navy-led, industry-collaborative design team approach,” engaging over 1,000 suppliers across the United States [1]. While the administration claims these complex warships could take approximately 2.5 years to build, current planning documents indicate that actual construction is not expected to commence until the early 2030s [3][7].