US President Donald Trump on Monday announced a new class of heavily armed warships. They will be named after him. This honor is usually reserved for leaders who have left office.
Two of the Trump-class ships will be built initially. However, that number could grow substantially according to the president. He said they will be “some of the most lethal surface warfare ships” and “the largest battleship in the history of our country”.
Trump made the announcement at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. He was alongside Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Navy Secretary John Phelan. Images of the planned high-tech vessels were on stands nearby.
Asked if the planned warships are a counter to Washington’s rival Beijing, Trump declined to specify. He instead said: “It’s a counter to everybody, it’s not China. We get along great with China.”
He said the ships will weigh between 30,000 and 40,000 tons. They will be armed with missiles and guns. The ships will also have weaponry still in development, such as lasers and hypersonic missiles.
They will also be capable of carrying atomic weapons in the form of the nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile, Trump said.
The Trump-class ships will be substantially larger than existing US destroyers and cruisers. However, the projected displacement cited by the president is somewhat smaller than the last American battleships. These battleships, from the Iowa class, were retired in the 1990s.
‘Most powerful fleet anywhere’
Trump — who has complained in the past about the appearance of US ships — said he would be involved in the design along with the Navy “because I’m a very aesthetic person”.
Trump’s announcement came just days after the Navy publicised plans for another new class of ships — frigates dubbed the FF(X) that it said will “complement the fleet’s larger, multi-mission warships”.
Phelan has said the FF(X) will be based on an existing design from shipbuilder HII. This design is already in use by the United States Coast Guard. The aim is for the first of the new frigates to be in the water by 2028.
The new frigate plans were announced. Phelan said in late November that four of six planned ships from the Constellation class of frigates would be canceled. Two ships that are already under construction are “under review”.
Washington has fallen significantly behind Beijing in the number of ships in its Navy. A report to Congress earlier this year noted this concern. US military officials and other observers are worried about the pace of China’s shipbuilding efforts.
“We’re going to restore America as a major shipbuilding power,” Trump said on Monday. He added: “We’re going to ensure the USA has the most powerful fleet anywhere in the world. This will continue long into the future, with battleships helping lead the way.”
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