President Donald Trump has announced that the US will commission a new series of heavily armed Navy "battleships" named after himself, as part of a revamped "Golden Fleet".
Construction on the Trump Class USS Defiant ships, which will be equipped to carry an array of weapons, is expected to begin soon, with Trump saying they will be operational in two-and-a-half years.
The announcement is part of a larger planned expansion of the US Navy by President Trump in both manned and unmanned vessels, including larger missile-armed warships and smaller vessels.
Officials have warned that the US currently lags behind China in both shipbuilding capacity and total output.
Speaking at his Mar-a-Lago golf club in Florida alongside defence secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of the Navy John Phelan on Monday, Trump said he approved the construction of two new battleships to start, with a plan to built up to 25.
