The U.S. Navy will get two new battleships, the “largest we've ever built,” sometime in the 2030s, President Donald Trump announced on Dec. 22.
Construction of the ships, designated Trump-class battleships, is scheduled to begin in the early 2030s, according to the Department of War, formerly known as the Department of Defense. Trump said the vessels will be part of a new “golden fleet” of advanced warships.
Trump said 20 to 25 of the battleships will be built. Work on the first two ships would begin immediately, he said.
Navy Secretary John Phelan compared the new battleships to the World War II-era Iowa-class battleships, a key part of the Navy fleet from the 1940s to the early 1990s.
However, the first Trump-class battleship, to be known as the USS Defiant, “will be the largest, deadliest and most versatile and best-looking warship anywhere on the world’s oceans,” Phelan said.
