Key Points and Summary – President Donald Trump has unveiled plans for a new “Trump-class” of large surface combatants, billed as modern battleships and the centerpiece of a revitalized “Golden Fleet.”
-Based on Arleigh Burke–era technologies but with heavier gun armament—and even artwork hinting at a railgun—the ships are meant to signal naval dominance as the Navy cancels its troubled Constellation-class frigate.
Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Michael Murphy (DDG 112) sails alongside Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) on Dec. 8, 2025. USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), flagship of the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, is underway conducting routine operations in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations, demonstrating the U.S. Navy’s long-term commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Nathaly Cruz)
-The package includes up to 50 support vessels and is framed as a response to the Venezuela crisis and Chinese and Russian naval pressure.
-Critics warn, however, that U.S. shipyards, supply chains, and budgets may struggle to deliver such an ambitious flagship.
New Trump-Class Warships: Game-Changer or Costly Symbol for the US Navy?
Late on Monday, December 22, United States President Donald Trump announced plans for a new class of large Navy warships that would be named after him. These “Trump-class” vessels are being described as battleships. However, officials emphasize this is not a return to the US Navy building the giant 1930s-era Iowa-class battlewagons made famous in the Second World War.
That class of ship distinguished itself the war, but as it became possible to deliver ordnance at long distances using aircraft based on carriers and guided-missile cruisers their utility—particularly given the high cost of their operation—caused the Navy to decommission the last of this class in the 1990s, following their modernization and brief return to service in the 1980s during the Reagan buildup.
Instead, these new ships would be next-generation surface combatants based on technologies developed for, or later integrated into, the Navy’s current Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. Retired Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, a specialist on Asian security issues and a senior director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, DC, told the Associated Press the announcement is expected to be a combination package of this new class of large surface combatant ships plus up to 50 support vessels.
The administration is showcasing this central procurement as Trump’s vision for a “Golden Fleet.” The White House confirmed that the new class of ship would be “the most lethal surface combatant ever constructed.”
Artists’ depictions of the new ship reveal details not seen on any other modern naval vessel. Some of the Illustrations show multiple cannons mounted on the vessel’s bow in place of the standard single gun that is the norm on other Navy warships. One of the weapons also visually bears a resemblance to a railgun, an R&D program the Navy previously canceled, but which US ally Japan had reported to have enjoyed some success with.
This small detail in the ship’s renderings has prompted speculation that cooperation with Japan in this field of military R&D may be in the offing.
Expanding Shipbuilding
Trump was joined Monday for the surprise announcement at his Mar-a-Lago, Florida, residence by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Navy Secretary John Phelan for what the White House was describing as a “major announcement.”
The news about the new class of warship comes after very public pressure from the White House to expand US shipbuilding following the Navy’s recent decision to cancel the Constellation-class frigate due to cost overruns and program delays. The US has now opted to build smaller, less expensive, and easier-to-build ships to take on the mission the Constellation-class vessels were initially planned to carry out.
The plan to revitalize both the fleet and American shipbuilding, unveiled at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort rather than in Washington, is as symbolically purposeful as it is practical, according to Latin American specialists who spoke to National Security Journal.
“Trump wants to convey two messages here,” said one of the analysts we spoke with. “One is to show that even while he is on holiday, he is, as they say, ‘still on the job.’ The other is that with Washington having amassed the largest armada in US naval history off the coast of Venezuela, he demonstrates—in his proximity if nothing else—that he is in the region and keeping abreast of all developments.”
The other part of the message the White House is using to “sell” the Venezuelan standoff to the US public is “the pressure on [Venezuelan President Nicolas] Maduro is breaking up the business of drug trafficking channels into the US and putting the narcotics cartels into America’s crosshairs,” said one of the same analysts.
Why the Trump-Class Battleship Won’t Be Easy to Build (If Ever…)
Adm. Mark Montgomery, who has long experience with the business of assessing blockade scenarios and war-gaming simulations involving engagements such as Venezuela, says he supports expanding the US fleet with the additional support ships the Trump announcement calls for. But he has questioned the need for a new vessel in the mode of a modern battleship.
The shipbuilder in the United States with modern “battleship”-scale experience and capacity—General Dynamics Bath Iron Works (BIW)—has had problems delivering the Arleigh Burke-class ships. As with other shipbuilders, there is an industry-wide shortage of experienced shipyard workers and persistent delays in the industry’s supply chain.
Trump has pushed to revitalize the Navy’s fleet, and at times, he has favored older technologies over investing in newer innovations to speed up the delivery of new ships. During his first presidential term, he advocated sticking with the old steam-powered catapults on aircraft carriers rather than moving to the new Electromagnetic Aircraft Launching System (EMALS) due to problems with the introduction of the new system and its costs.
Constellation-Class Frigate U.S. Navy. Image Credit: Industry Handout.
Navy Secretary John Phelan has told senators that Trump has frequently texted him late into the night with questions about US Navy ship maintenance and design, demonstrating that he is focused on the details and is cognisant of all the problems therein. Trump has previously said he personally intervened to call for changes in configuration for the now-cancelled Constellation frigate, calling the original version “a terrible-looking ship.”
About the Author: Reuben F. Johnson
Reuben F. Johnson has thirty-six years of experience analyzing and reporting on foreign weapons systems, defense technologies, and international arms export policy. Johnson is the Director of Research at the Casimir Pulaski Foundation. He is also a survivor of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He worked for years in the American defense industry as a foreign technology analyst and later as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Defense, the Departments of the Navy and Air Force, and the governments of the United Kingdom and Australia. In 2022-2023, he won two awards in a row for his defense reporting. He holds a bachelor’s degree from DePauw University and a master’s degree from Miami University in Ohio, specializing in Soviet and Russian studies. He lives in Warsaw.
