Cold War firepower on the high seas—Trump wants nuclear-armed battleships back.
President Donald Trump on Monday announced plans for a new “Trump-class” battleship that would carry nuclear-armed cruise missiles, marking the first time the United States would deploy nuclear weapons on a surface combat ship since the Cold War.
Speaking from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida ahead of the winter holidays, Trump also revealed intentions to build a new class of aircraft carriers, signaling an expansive—and costly—effort to dramatically scale up U.S. naval power. Neither program currently has funding allocated in the Pentagon’s budget, leaving timelines and feasibility uncertain.
Trump said at least 25 Trump-class battleships would be constructed and described them as “the largest we’ve ever built,” calling for an aggressive production timeline that would deliver the first ship in just two and a half years. Defense experts, however, described that schedule as highly unrealistic given the absence of finalized designs and the Navy’s long-standing struggles with shipbuilding delays.
According to two people familiar with early planning, the battleships would integrate multiple advanced technologies that have never been combined on a single vessel. Initial concepts envision a 30,000-ton ship—larger than the Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyers—with a crew exceeding 500 sailors.
The ships would be designed to carry hypersonic missiles, nuclear-armed cruise missiles, electromagnetic rail guns capable of firing munitions hundreds of miles, and power-generation systems to support directed-energy laser weapons.
Defense industry analyst Roman Schweizer of TD Cowen warned investors that the proposal runs counter to the Navy’s recent focus on unmanned and robotic maritime systems. Others pointed to deeper structural issues: every U.S. Navy ship currently under construction is at least a year behind schedule, and American shipyards continue to face chronic labor shortages.
Asked how the administration would overcome those constraints, Trump said he plans to meet with defense company executives and pressure them to reduce executive pay and stock buybacks in favor of investing in new factories and production capacity. “We need these ships now,” he said, “not in 10 or 15 years.”
Criticism from Capitol Hill and defense analysts was swift. Mark Montgomery, a retired Navy officer now with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, warned that maintaining multiple new ship classes would strain the Navy’s budget for decades. Rep. Joe Courtney, the ranking Democrat on the House Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, called the plan vague and noted that there were historical reasons the Navy stopped building battleships after World War II.
“There’s a reason the Navy didn’t revive battleships even during President Ronald Reagan’s 600-ship fleet,” Courtney said.
Bryan Clark of the Hudson Institute added that without retiring existing ships early, the Navy simply lacks the funding to support such an ambitious expansion while also paying for new aircraft, operations, and personnel.
Trump was joined at the announcement by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Navy Secretary John Phelan, and Chief of Naval Operations Daryl Caudle. The Wall Street Journal first reported several details of the proposal.
Whether the Trump-class battleship becomes a reality or remains a political signal, the announcement underscores a clear message: Trump intends to push the U.S. military—and the defense industrial base—toward a scale and posture not seen in decades, even as questions mount over cost, feasibility, and strategic necessity.
