White House, Navy Announce Trump-Class Battleships

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Dec. 22, President Donald Trump and Secretary of the Navy John C. Phelan, alongside Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, announced their intent to construct a new class of American-designed battleships.

The future USS Defiant (BBG 1) is to be the first Trump-class battleship and “will be an unambiguous statement of American commitment to maritime superiority with capability to distribute more firepower across the fleet than any other class of ship, for any Navy, in history,” according to a U.S. Navy announcement.

“The President has been clear — we must bring back our American maritime industrial might, and he has told me many times that as secretary of the Navy it is my job to equip our Sailors to win the fight at sea with the finest ships in our history,” Phelan said. “Now when a conflict arises, you’re going to ask us two questions: where is the carrier, and where is the battleship?”

These new battleships will stand as the centerpiece of the Navy’s Golden Fleet initiative and will be the first of its kind providing dominant firepower and a decisive advantage over adversaries by integrating the most advanced deep-strike weapons of today with the revolutionary systems of the years ahead, the Navy said.

“At triple the size of an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, its massive frame provides superior firepower, larger missile magazines, and the capability to launch Conventional Prompt Strike hypersonic missiles and the Surface Launch Cruise Missile-Nuclear,” the Navy statement said.

Trump-class ships will be capable of operating in a traditional Integrated Air and Missile Defense role with a Carrier Strike Group or commanding its own Surface Action Group for Surface and Anti-Submarine Warfare efforts in addition to delivering long range hypersonic strategic fires and quarterbacking the operations of an entire fleet as the central command control node.

“As we forge the future of our Navy’s fleet, we need a larger surface combatant and the Trump-class battleships meet that requirement,” said Admiral Daryl Caudle, 34th Chief of Naval Operations. “We will ensure continuous improvement, intellectually honest assessments about the requirement to effectively deter and win in the 2030s and beyond, and disciplined execution resulting in a fleet unparalleled in lethality, adaptability and strength.”

The battleship will be acquired using a Navy-led, industry-collaborative design team approach to accelerate design and construction and supported by over 1,000 suppliers in nearly every state in America. The Navy will continue to build and employ DDG 51 as its fleet workhorse and develop FF(X) as a highly produceable combatant, growing the fleet rapidly through a more intentional high/low mix of capability and platforms, the Navy said.

The last battleship delivered to the U.S. Navy was USS Missouri (BB-63) in the summer of 1944.