Trump Unveils “Trump-Class” Battleships, Names First USS Defiant in Major Navy Push
President Donald Trump confirmed on December 22, 2025 that he is moving forward with plans for a new class of U.S. Navy warships called the Trump-class battleships and that the first vessel will be named the USS Defiant.
The announcement, made at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate with senior administration and military officials present, marks an unusual break with naval tradition. Naming ship classes after sitting presidents is not typical, and past battleships were usually named for states.
According to the Associated Press, Trump described the initiative as part of a broader “Golden Fleet” plan to rejuvenate American shipbuilding and enhance maritime power with large surface combatants reportedly equipped with advanced weapons including hypersonic and nuclear cruise missiles, railguns, and lasers.
However, the project faces complications. Pentagon budgets do not currently include funding for these vessels, and analysts note it may be years before any could be designed, let alone built.
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John Phelan, the Navy Secretary, said the USS Defiant is envisioned as “the most lethal surface combatant ever constructed,” underscoring both its symbolic weight and ambitious aspirations.
The decision to revive battleship-style vessels and name them after a living president has already drawn scrutiny from defense experts, who question whether such ships fit modern combat requirements.
Some see the move as an effort to fuse politics with military procurement at a time of rising great-power competition, while others worry about costs and strategic logic.
What happens next…
Congress and the Pentagon will have to decide whether to authorize funding and begin design work, a process that could stretch into the early 2030s.
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