Dec. 22 (UPI) — President Donald Trump announced Monday that the U.S. Navy will begin building two large battleships to “revive the American shipbuilding industry, and inspire fear in America’s enemies.”
Trump announced the “new Golden Fleet” from Florida with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, flanked by images of the vessel named the USS Defiant.
The “Trump class” battleships will be manufactured in the United States to replace an “old and tired and obsolete” U.S fleet, according to the White House.
Navy’s new class of Large Surface Combatants: THE BATTLESHIP.
The most lethal surface combatant ever constructed. pic.twitter.com/7AH5G4IJj5— The White House (@WhiteHouse) December 22, 2025
“These have been under design consideration for a long time and it started with me in my first term, because I said ‘why aren’t we doing battleships like we used to?’ These are the best in the world,” Trump told reporters. “They will be the fastest, the biggest and by far, 100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built.”
“They’ll help maintain American military supremacy, revive the American shipbuilding industry and inspire fear in America’s enemies all over the world,” the president added.
The Navy will build two battleships, followed by eight more. Trump said there could be as many as 20 or 25. They will be made entirely of steel, weighing between 30 and 40 tons, with Artificial Intelligence playing a large role in how they run.
“The battleships are going to be armed with guns and missiles at the highest level. They’ll also have hypersonic weapons, state-of-the-art electric rail guns and even the high-powered lasers you’ve been starting to read about,” Trump added. “They’ll also carry the nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missiles that are currently under development.”
Trump plans to meet with defense contractors next week in Florida to discuss production schedules and new shipbuilding plants that he said will add thousands of jobs. The president said the Navy will lead the design with his assistance, because he’s a “very aesthetic person.”
Hegseth called the new battleships an “investment in peace through strength.”
“We’re rebuilding the military. President Trump did it once. He’s doing it again with historic investments today in shipbuilding and reestablishing deterrents,” added Hegseth.
“This is American industrial power returning,” said Rubio. “This is the ability once again to rebuild industry in the United States. This is generational in change, not just in terms of applying American war power and increasing our ability to protect the seas, but because the U.S. Navy is the biggest source of peace in the world.”
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