Trump unveils ‘Trump-class battleship’ in US shipbuilding push
According to Trump, the ships, the first of which will be named the USS Defiant, will be substantially larger than existing US destroyers
US President Donald Trump announced the US Navy would build a new “Trump-class” battleship as part of the White House push to modernise a fleet that has been hobbled by years of cost overruns and delays.
A poster displayed at the event at Trump’s gilded Mar-a-Lago estate featured an artist’s rendering of a sleek-looking warship dubbed the USS Defiant, cutting through choppy waters with a laser beam shooting from its deck and smoke billowing from a target in the background.
Next to the ship was a picture of Trump raising his fist in the air in a near copy of the defiant pose he struck minutes after surviving an assassination attempt in 2024. Another poster showed a rendering of the vessel sailing by the Statue of Liberty.
“Some of them have gotten old and tired and obsolete, and we’re going to go the exact opposite direction,” Trump said. “The US Navy will lead the design of these ships alongside me because I’m a very aesthetic person.”
The US Navy was also pursuing a new frigate based on the Legend-class cutter as it looks to shore up a surface combatant fleet that is one-third the size the service needs, it announced December 19. The ship, dubbed the FF(X), will be built by Newport News, Virginia-based HII.
The new ships were part of Trump’s “Golden Fleet” bid to revive US shipbuilding and address shortfalls in smaller vessels as it seeks to compete against China, where roughly 53 per cent of global shipbuilding takes place. The US builds just 0.1 per cent of the world’s ships, according to a recent Centre for Strategic and International Studies assessment.