Trump: Trump-Class Battleship Will be Flagship for Navy's New Golden Fleet

President Donald Trump has announced plans to order a future "Trump-class" battleship in large quantities, and says that he will press defense contractors to deliver it quickly.

"They'll be the fastest, the biggest, and by far 100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built," the president said at a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Monday afternoon.

In a statement, the White House confirmed that the class would be "the most lethal surface combatant ever constructed." Illustrations show that the vessel would be equipped with multiple cannons on the bow, not just the standard single gun found on other Navy warships. In one illustration, the president's likeness appears to be painted in a larger-than-life format upon the helicopter hangar, just forward of the helideck.

Data obtained by USNI suggest a substantial ship with heavy armament: nearly 900 feet in length, displacing 35,000 tonnes, crewed by up to 850 sailors, and fitted with two 300kW-class lasers, one railgun, two five-inch cannons, 128 VLS cells, and 12 larger cells for Conventional Prompt Strike hypersonic missiles. In addition, Trump said that the ship would be equipped with the Nuclear-Armed Sea-Launched Cruise Missile (SLCMN), a tactical nuclear weapon program expected to deliver in the mid-2030s.

According to Trump, the administration plans to build as many as 25 Trump-class warships - a significant order for a capacity-constrained defense industrial base. Trump added that he would be meeting with defense contractors in Florida to talk about delivering surface combatants more quickly.

Most U.S. naval shipbuilding programs are behind schedule, and the ambitious program will require a shipbuilder. Fincantieri Marinette's Constellation-class frigate program was recently canceled due to delays and cost overruns; the yard has open slots, but is too small to build a battleship. A replacement FF(X) frigate will be built at Huntington Ingalls Industries, which already has a busy backlog. Only one other shipbuilder in the United States has modern "battleship"-scale experience and capacity - General Dynamics Bath Iron Works (BIW) - and BIW's Arleigh Burke deliveries are also delayed. A systemic shortage of skilled shipyard workers and persistent delays in the shipbuilding supply chain affect both companies equally.

Other possible competitors could include Hanwha Philly Shipyard, which has the physical drydock space but lacks surface combatant experience and a scaled-up defense shipbuilding workforce; a greenfield yard, reactivated ex-Navy yard, or upskilled repair yard; or outsourcing to a foreign shipbuilder. The government of South Korea has publicly promoted the idea of offshoring U.S. vessel production, and wants Korea's "Big Three" to be able to compete for lucrative U.S. Navy orders.