As the anchors of a “Golden Fleet,” President Donald Trump pledged to build 20 to 25 gun and missile-equipped battleships named after himself that are to carry the nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile (SLCM-N).
Flanking Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate Dec. 22 for his pledge were Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Navy Secretary John Phelan and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, formerly a Republican Senator from Florida.
The 30,000 to 40,000 ton battleships – less than half the size of an aircraft carrier – are to carry SLCM-N and to serve as a command and control platform for drones and other ships, Phelan said.
“This ship isn’t just to swat the arrows; it is going to reach out and kill the archers. And for the first time in generations, we’ll have a new leg in America’s nuclear deterrence, because the Trump-class battleship will carry the nuclear-armed, sea-launched cruise missile,” Phelan said.
SLCM-N would also be deployed on the Virginia-class submarines and would include a variant of the W80-4 air-launched cruise missile warhead. The W80-4 is something the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is already working on. NNSA did not immediately respond to a query on whether the battleship SLCM-N would also feature the W80-4 warhead.
The Navy would build two to 10 such Trump-class battleships initially, the first of which would be the USS Defiant, fielded in the next two and a half years, according to Trump.
“We’re going to make battle groups great again,” Phelan said, adding he and top combatant commanders, including Adm. Sam Paparo, the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, and Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Central Command, support the new battleships.
Military analysts have often spoken, however, about the threat that advanced Chinese missiles pose to large ships, including what has been the mainstay of U.S. naval might–the carriers.
The Navy will be the design agent for the battleships “along with me because I’m a very aesthetic person,” Trump said.
Trump said that he would meet with defense contractors next week at Mar-a-Lago to discuss rapid fielding of military systems.
Exchange Monitor affiliate Defense Daily first published a version of this story.