U.S. President Donald Trump, joined by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, arrives to announce the creation of the “Trump-class” battleship during a statement to the media at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate on December 22, 2025 in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — The House Armed Services Committee doesn’t want the Navy to sign off on a construction contract for the Trump-class battleship until the service provides Congress more details about the ship’s design, according to the chairman’s mark of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) released today.
The draft legislation includes a section that would prohibit the Navy from inking a contract or other agreement that “includes a scope of work for the construction” of the lead ship until after the Secretary of the Navy proves to lawmakers that the weapons systems the service plans to include on the vessel are “at a sufficiently mature technology readiness level.”
The House language does not spell out which technologies must be proven out, but there are hints from the initial announcement of the ship by President Donald Trump in December. At the time, Trump said the vessel would include hypersonic weapons, electronic rail guns and high-powered, laser-based weaponry.
