{"id":48306,"date":"2025-12-22T23:33:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T23:33:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2025\/12\/22\/navy-to-begin-constructing-2-trump-class-battleships\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T17:22:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T17:22:49","slug":"navy-to-begin-constructing-2-trump-class-battleships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2025\/12\/22\/navy-to-begin-constructing-2-trump-class-battleships\/","title":{"rendered":"Navy to begin constructing 2 \u2018Trump class\u2019 battleships"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2025\/12\/22\/trump-nominates-new-head-of-southcom-to-lead-strikes-near-venezuela\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2025\/12\/22\/trump-nominates-new-head-of-southcom-to-lead-strikes-near-venezuela\/\">President Donald Trump<\/a> announced Monday the U.S. will build a new generation of \u201cTrump class\u201d battleships, in an effort to advance his vision of building a \u201cGolden Fleet.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump, flanked by Defense Secretary <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/12\/03\/hegseth-put-us-troops-mission-at-risk-with-signal-use-watchdog-finds\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/12\/03\/hegseth-put-us-troops-mission-at-risk-with-signal-use-watchdog-finds\/\">Pete Hegseth<\/a>, Navy Secretary <a href=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-navy\/2025\/08\/26\/phelan-establishes-new-naval-rapid-capabilities-office\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-navy\/2025\/08\/26\/phelan-establishes-new-naval-rapid-capabilities-office\/\">John Phelan<\/a> and Secretary of State <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/global\/europe\/2025\/12\/18\/how-a-us-led-peace-plan-in-ukraine-is-reshaping-global-alliances\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/global\/europe\/2025\/12\/18\/how-a-us-led-peace-plan-in-ukraine-is-reshaping-global-alliances\/\">Marco Rubio<\/a>, said construction of two vessels would start \u201calmost immediately,\u201d with the eventual goal of expanding to a fleet of 20 to 25. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The president framed his eponymously named battleships as the \u201clargest\u201d to ever be built. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey\u2019ll be the fastest, the biggest and by far, 100 times more powerful,\u201d Trump said during his remarks at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re desperately in need of ships. Our ships are \u2014 some of them have gotten old and tired and obsolete \u2014 and we\u2019re going to go in the exact opposite direction,\u201d he continued. \u201cThe U.S. Navy will lead the design of these ships, along with me because I\u2019m a very aesthetic person.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump has long conveyed his gripe about the aesthetics of Navy ship designs. During a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2020\/06\/26\/trump-visits-2020-election-state-wisconsin-and-praises-navy-warship.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2020\/06\/26\/trump-visits-2020-election-state-wisconsin-and-praises-navy-warship.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com\">visit to a shipyard during his first term in office<\/a>, the president said the ships they were building \u201clook terrible\u201d and that he personally got involved to change the model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump revealed the weapons systems would include high-powered laser technology, nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missiles and hypersonic weapons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Navy secretary said the new vessels were \u201cjust one piece of the president\u2019s Golden Fleet that we\u2019re going to build.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cA new frigate, the right frigate, the one our warfighters have told us they need,\u201d Phelan said. \u201cThe future Trump class battleship, the USS Defiant, will be the largest, deadliest and most versatile \u2014 and best looking warship \u2014 anywhere on the world\u2019s oceans.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Iowa was designed to go on the attack with the biggest guns. And that\u2019s exactly what will define the Trump-class battleship,\u201d Phelan added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump\u2019s announcement comes on the heels of a separate notice Friday that the sea service would be pursuing a new class of smaller, more agile combatant ships. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first hull of the future FF(X) class, which will be based on the U.S. Coast Guard\u2019s Legend-class National Security Cutter design, is expected to hit the water in 2028 as a more nimble companion to the Navy\u2019s larger warships, Phelan said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SECNAV\/status\/2001991255211807129\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SECNAV\/status\/2001991255211807129\">Dec. 19 video announcement<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cTo deliver at speed and scale, I\u2019ve directed the acquisition of a new frigate class based on [the design by Huntington Ingalls Industries],\u201d Phelan said, \u201ca proven, American-built ship that has been protecting U.S. interests at home and abroad. President Trump and the secretary of war have signed off on this as part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/opinion\/2025\/12\/18\/winning-the-long-game-sustaining-sea-power-as-our-enduring-advantage\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/opinion\/2025\/12\/18\/winning-the-long-game-sustaining-sea-power-as-our-enduring-advantage\/\">Golden Fleet<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The service is touting the FF(X) as a \u201chighly adaptable vessel\u201d capable of carrying out tasks ranging from surface warfare missions and modular payload transport to unmanned systems operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Recent warship deployments to places like the Red Sea and Caribbean have served as glaring reminders of the service\u2019s need for a more flexible frigate class, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2025\/12\/17\/cno-dishes-on-sailor-wellbeing-us-navy-success-in-era-of-competition\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2025\/12\/17\/cno-dishes-on-sailor-wellbeing-us-navy-success-in-era-of-competition\/\">Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle<\/a> said in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.navy.mil\/Press-Office\/Press-Releases\/display-pressreleases\/Article\/4364538\/navy-announces-new-small-surface-combatant\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.navy.mil\/Press-Office\/Press-Releases\/display-pressreleases\/Article\/4364538\/navy-announces-new-small-surface-combatant\/\">announcement<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur small surface combatant inventory is a third of what we need,\u201d Caudle said. \u201cWe need more capable blue-water small combatants to close the gap and keep our [guided-missile destroyers] focused on the high-end fight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The latest Navy developments come as the Trump administration has intensified pressure on Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u2019s government, steadily increasing the U.S. naval presence in the region over the past several months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Saturday, officials reported the seizure of a second vessel in international waters, and the Coast Guard is pursuing an oil tanker near Venezuela as part of the ongoing operations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last week, Trump declared \u201ca total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going into and out of Venezuela.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;The U.S. Navy will lead the design of these ships,&#8221; the president said Monday, &#8220;along with me because I\u2019m a very aesthetic person.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":110555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":16,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,16,36,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3488,3498],"class_list":["post-48306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-naval","category-newsletters","category-pentagon"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"NY62MB4ZJFCX5KAZDJHECPSHX4","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/12\/22\/navy-to-begin-constructing-2-trump-class-battleships\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Navy to begin constructing 2 \u2018Trump class\u2019 battleships - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&quot;The U.S. Navy will lead the design of these ships,&quot; the president said Monday, &quot;along with me because I\u2019m a very aesthetic person.&quot;\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/12\/22\/navy-to-begin-constructing-2-trump-class-battleships\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Navy to begin constructing 2 \u2018Trump class\u2019 battleships\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&quot;The U.S. Navy will lead the design of these ships,&quot; the president said Monday, &quot;along with me because I\u2019m a very aesthetic person.&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2025\/12\/22\/navy-to-begin-constructing-2-trump-class-battleships\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-22T23:33:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T17:22:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tanya Noury, J.D. 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