On Dec. 22, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a new class of heavily armed warships that will be named after himself—an honor usually reserved for U.S. leaders who have left office. They are to be “nuclear-armed,” he pointed out. Two of the Trump-class ships—the first one to be named USS Defiant—will be built initially, but that number could grow substantially in the future, according to the President. Construction, however, is not expected to begin before 2030.
Trump made the announcement at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, alongside Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Navy Secretary John Phelan, with images of the planned high-tech vessels on stands nearby. Trump said the ships will weigh between 30,000 and 40,000 tons and will be armed with missiles and guns, as well as weaponry still in development, such as lasers and hypersonic missiles. In contrast, the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers—which are the backbone of U.S. Navy surface warfare—displace about 10,000 tons.
“They’ll also carry the nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missiles currently under development,” Trump said.
“American strength is back on the world stage, and the announcement of the Golden Fleet, anchored by new battleships, the biggest and most lethal ever … marks a generational commitment to American sea power across the entire department,” Hegseth claimed. “New and better ships will provide that deterrent today and for generations to come.”
“We’re going to make battle groups great again,” Phelan added. “The USS Defiant battleship will inspire awe and reverence for the American flag whenever it pulls into a foreign port. It will be a source of pride for every American.”
The War Zone writes that major questions about the plans for the Trump class remain, including when the USS Defiant might be launched, let alone enter service. What these ships might cost to produce, as well as to operate and maintain, is another important open question.
Trump’s announcement also comes a month after the U.S. Navy canceled the Constellation-class frigate (FFG/X) program after the first two ships were laid down. The FFG/X ships, based on a European design, were to be built by the Italian Fincantieri concern at a shipyard in Wisconsin, but the program ran into delays and cost increases when the ships were redesigned to meet stricter U.S. survivability standards.
