Trump-class battleship

Background

USS Missouri in 1991 after returning from the Gulf War. The Iowa-class battleships were constructed during World War II and were the last ships operated by the U.S. Navy to be classified as battleships.

USS Zumwalt in 2016. The Zumwalt-class destroyers are the largest surface combatants currently operated by the U.S. Navy and were designed in part to replace gunfire support and other capabilities of the Iowa class.

The U.S. Navy has not had a battleship in commission since the retirement of the last Iowa-class battleship USS Missouri in 1992.^[11] There have been no plans for new ones since the cancellation of the Montana class in 1943.^[12]

The retirement of the Iowa-class led to a battleship retirement debate on how the Navy should replace their capabilities. The Zumwalt-class destroyer was developed to replace their naval gunfire support function, but the class was canceled after only three ships were constructed.^[13][14] The Navy also launched studies into a Future Surface Combatant (FSC) to replace the Ticonderoga-class cruisers—which will reach the end of their service lives in the 2020s—as well as older flights of the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.^[15] The FSC evolved into the Large Surface Combatant (LSC) program, which became the DDG(X). The DDG(X) program office was established in June 2021.^[16][17]

Rear Admiral Derek Trinque revealed in January 2026 that the DDG(X) hull was too small for the desired number of VLS for Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) missiles plus a gun mount. The U.S. Navy considered building two DDG(X) variants. However, it pivoted to a larger vessel capable of accommodating both after the Trump administration showed interest in a modern battleship, which became the Trump class.^[18][19] Vice Admiral Brendan McLane, commander of Naval Surface Force, said in February 2026 that the Flight III Arleigh Burke class could no longer accommodate new systems.^[20]

Development

On 22 December 2025, U.S. president Donald Trump announced the Trump class, with two ships to be initially constructed of 10 planned, and eventual plans for "between 20 and 25" as part of a "Golden Fleet".^[6][21] The first ship is planned to be named USS Defiant (BBG-1).^[22] John C. Phelan, then-U.S. Secretary of the Navy (until April 2026), said the ships would carry conventional guns and nuclear-armed cruise missiles.^[23] Trump said the ships would be built at the Hanwha Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which is owned by South Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group.^[24]

The announcement of the class came amid warnings by U.S. officials that Chinese shipbuilding has surpassed the United States in capacity and output, and is part of the second Trump administration's goal to enlarge the U.S. Navy and revitalize the U.S. shipbuilding industry.^[21][25]

Department of Defense officials said the BBG(X) program will incorporate technology from the DDG(X) program and replace it.^[26]

Phelan helped conceive the class to gain favor with President Trump but was ousted in April 2026. The administration did not state a reason for Phelan's removal. Politico and The New York Times reported that anonymous DoD officials said that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg had grown frustrated with his advocacy of the expensive battleships, which they felt was impeding construction of the smaller and cheaper warships they prioritized, such as uncrewed surface vessels. His ouster was thought to represent a setback for the class.^[27][28] The Times reported that Phelan "struggled to come up with a plan to deliver the [battleships] on the nearly impossible timeline that Mr. Trump had demanded", and told Trump that to attain the 2028 delivery schedule, the ships might need to be built in European shipyards, which Trump would not accept.^[28]

The ships will be nuclear-powered.^[29] On 11 May 2026, Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao said three of the battleships, designated BBGNs to reflect their nuclear power, would be built in fiscal 2027 to 2031.^[9][b]

In May 2026, construction of the first Trump-class battleship was expected to begin in 2028 for delivery in 2036.^[30][31][32]

On 4 June 2026, the House Armed Services Committee voted to require the Secretary of the Navy to submit a report by March 2027 detailing acquisition plans for the Trump class, and for mitigation of impacts on Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier construction, as part of their FY2027 defense budget bill. The minority members on the Committee unsuccessfully tried to insert language cutting advance procurement funding for the battleships by $1 billion.^[33]

On 5 August 2026, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that the construction of 15 Trump-class battleships would cost $275 billion, with the lead ship USS Defiant costing $23.4 billion and the following ships averaging $18 billion.^[34][35]

Planned armament

Navy officials have said ships of the class are to include a main battery of a Surface Launch Cruise Missile-Nuclear (SLCM-N) system, a 12-cell Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) hypersonic missile system, and a 128-cell Mark 41 vertical launching system (VLS).^{[citation needed]} A secondary battery is to consist of a 32-megajoule railgun, two 5-inch/62-caliber (127 mm) guns, and a pair of 300 or 600-kilowatt laser weapons. A defensive battery is planned with two RAM launchers, four Mark 38 30 mm machine gun systems, four ODIN lasers, and two anti-drone systems. The ship is to have an enclosed hangar for VTOL aircraft such as helicopters, the V-22 Osprey, and future vertical-lift manned and unmanned aircraft.^[3] The lasers, nuclear cruise missiles, and the railgun could be added to the base design.^[5]

General Atomics said in January 2026 that it was talking with the Navy about the "role of railguns".^[36]

Directed-energy weapons such as megawatt-class lasers could be installed as defensive weapons; some current U.S. warships have a 60-kilowatt High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS) or less-powerful ODIN.^[37]

On 14 May 2026, Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao said during a House Armed Services Committee hearing that the ship is to have 200 VLS cells.^[38]

Design

Analysts have expressed doubts that the ships will enter service because they have not been funded and their unique and unprecedented design will make development costly and slow.^{[39][40][41][42]}

The classification of the Trump-class ship as a battleship has been questioned. Mark Cancian with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) wrote that the term has historically been used for warships with large guns, such as 16-inch guns, and heavy armor, which the Trump class would lack, and that the ship's profile is more typical of a guided-missile "battlecruiser" like Russia's Kirov class.^[43]

According to the U.S. Naval Institute, the definition of the term "battleship" has evolved over the ages, from wooden ships with many guns (ship of the line [of battle]), through to the 20th-century usage of high-caliber gunned ships with heavy armor. The ship is meant to survive in a fleet battle, and thus armor is not definitional to the core of the battleship. The importance of the large gun debate depends upon whether the gun is the most important component of the ship's firepower.^[44] There was no effective change to ideas about the battleship after the Second World War until the advent of the guided missile.

CNN analyst Stephen Collinson has stated that the procurement of the 'Trump class' would likely revive the battleship retirement debate.^[45] Cancian has written that the ship "will never sail" as its high cost will prompt a "future administration [to] cancel the program before the first ship hits the water".^[43]

U.S. labor force

Some have questioned whether the United States has an adequate labor force to build the ships in American shipyards.^[46][47] This argument notes that during World War II, tens of thousands of men and women worked in shifts around the clock at each of the U.S. naval yards that produced the Iowa-class. More than 71,000 people were employed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard alone.^[39] Cancian notes that U.S. shipbuilders were so short of skilled labor in 2025 that they had been increasing wages to attract workers from competing yards.^[43]

In January 2026, the Congressional Research Service stated that the U.S. Navy intends to award contracts to multiple shipbuilders for the construction of a Trump-class battleship. The report identified three capable shipyards: Bath Iron Works and Ingalls Shipbuilding, which have built every U.S. Navy cruiser and destroyer since 1985; and Newport News Shipbuilding, which has specialized in the construction and overhauling of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.^[2]

Trump had previously indicated that the ships would be built at Hanwha Philly Shipyard.^[24] As of January 2026^[update], the yard has only ever built commercial vessels and lacks any experience with defense-related contracts.^[48] After Hanwha acquired the financially struggling shipyard in 2024, in August 2025 it pledged an investment toward a $5 billion infrastructure plan, with a goal of eventually building warships.^[49] However, in May 2026, top Navy officials announced that they would most likely build the battleships at the Newport News shipyard, due to the battleships' nuclear propulsion; the House Armed Services Committee wrote legislation that suggested Dry Dock 12.^[33]

Name

The Trump-class name would not follow United States ship naming conventions. American battleships have been named after U.S. states, with the exception of USS Kearsarge, a pre-dreadnought battleship ordered in 1895;^[50][51] while names of presidents have been used for aircraft carriers before,^[42][52] naming a warship after a living person, once rare, is no longer unusual in the United States.^[52] However, it is atypical for presidents to name things after themselves. The naming came in the context of the recent addition of Trump's name to the Kennedy Center and the U.S. Institute of Peace, as well as the new Trump account and Trump Gold Card.^[53]