President Donald Trump has unveiled plans for a new class of heavily armed U.S. Navy surface combatants, formally described as “battleships”, as part of his administration’s “Golden Fleet” vision for naval power.
Speaking at Mar-a-Lago in Florida alongside Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Navy Secretary John Phelan, Trump confirmed that construction has been approved for an initial pair of vessels, with a much larger class envisaged over time.
“They’ll be the fastest, the biggest, and by far, 100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built,” Trump said. “Once completed, they will carry extremely lethal weapons and serve as the flagships of the United States Navy.”
The ships will form a new “Trump-class”, reviving the battleship designation for the first time since the retirement of the Iowa class in the early 1990s.
Laser weapons central to the design
Directed-energy weapons are a defining feature of the Trump-class concept rather than a future retrofit. The ships are planned to carry multiple high-energy laser systems intended for missile, drone and air defence, including two large shipborne lasers rated at either 300 kW or 600 kW.
Additional laser systems are expected to include Optical Dazzling Interdictor Navy (ODIN) weapons for counter-drone and sensor-disruption roles, reinforcing a layered defensive approach built around energy weapons.
Trump framed the design as deliberately focused on future conflict. “These ships will be built for the wars of tomorrow, not the wars of the past,” he said during the announcement.
Heavy strike and nuclear capability
The Trump-class is also expected to field an unusually heavy offensive armament for a surface combatant. Planned systems include a large vertical launch capacity for conventional strike missiles, conventional prompt strike weapons, and provision for low-yield nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missiles.
Gun armament is expected to include an electromagnetic railgun alongside hypervelocity projectile-capable naval guns, combining long-range kinetic firepower with missile and laser defences.
With a planned displacement exceeding 35,000 tonnes, the ships would be significantly larger than existing U.S. destroyers and cruisers, approaching the size of historic capital ships while remaining below aircraft carrier scale.
Scale and industrial intent
Trump said the vessels would be built domestically and tied the programme directly to industrial policy and shipbuilding capacity. “They’ll be built right here in America, and they’ll create thousands and thousands of jobs,” he said, standing alongside renderings labelled “Trump-class”.
Current plans envisage between 10 and 25 ships, with construction intended to proceed in phases following the initial pair. The ships are expected to operate alongside aircraft carriers and next-generation frigates, forming the high-end surface combatant element of the “Golden Fleet” concept.
All drawn with golden crayons no doubt.
How did his parents raise such a child?
Hopefully the US Navy have an identified need for ships such as these, and they are simply not becoming a reality due to a Thought bubble from the President..
I think he’s off to Greenland for Christmas’.