Trump announces new class of 'battleships' named after himself

Rebecca Kheel, CQ-Roll Call on Dec 22, 2025

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is naming a new class of ships after himself as part of his so-called Golden Fleet vision for revamping the Navy.

In a speech at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Monday, Trump said the Navy will build two ships in a new class of what he described as “battleships” that he is calling the “Trump class.”

“Each one of these will be the largest battleship in the history of our country, the largest battleship in the history of the world ever built,” Trump said, while flanked by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Navy Secretary John Phelan and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “It’s 100 times more powerful than the previous Iowa class.”

Trump’s reference to the new class as battleships is in line with the fascination with heavy-armored 20th century vessels he expressed at his September speech to a room full of top military officers. But the new ships will actually be an upgraded version of the Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, according to The Wall Street Journal.

While Trump said the new class will start with the two ships, he added that the plan is to eventually build at least 10 ships and up to 20 or 25 ships. Among other capabilities, the ships will be able to carry the in-development sea-launched nuclear cruise missile, he said.

Trump also said he’ll be personally involved with the design of the ship since he is “a very aesthetic person,” adding the ships will be made out of “very powerful steel” rather than aluminum as is standard in shipbuilding nowadays.

It was not immediately clear where the funding for the new ships was coming from. A Pentagon spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the funding source.

This summer’s GOP budget reconciliation package provided $5.4 billion for construction of two additional guided-missile destroyers, which may be enough at least to foot a portion of the bill.

Asked about how the administration will ensure sufficient workforces at shipyards to build the new ships, Trump told reporters that “we’re going to have robots” helping build the ships, but quickly added that humans building the ships will be well-paid.

The Trump-class ships are the latest program the president is affixing his name to, such as last week’s decision by his hand-picked board to call the Kennedy Center the “Trump-Kennedy.”

The first ship in the new class will be called USS Defiant, according to Monday’s announcement, despite the fact that the lead ship in a class typically carries the name of the class.

The ship class also breaks the Navy’s naming convention of reserving presidents’ names for aircraft carriers.

Monday’s announcement comes days after the Navy announced that it will also commission a new class of frigates for the Golden Fleet. The frigates will be based on the Coast Guard’s Legend-class National Security Cutter and are meant to replace the Navy’s canceled Constellation-class frigate.

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