Pres. Trump, Secretary of War Hegseth, and Navy Secretary Phelan Announce Golden Age of Naval Fleets -- The "Trump Class" battleships

Red State ^ | 12/22/2025 | Jennifer Oliver O' Connell

[SeekAndFind]

On Monday, President Donald Trump, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and Secretary of the Navy John Phelan announced a new series of what they called "Trump Class" battleships, a new initiative to revamp and restore the maritime industry and shore up America's maritime dominance. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was also in the Oval Office and offered remarks.

Navy's new class of Large Surface Combatants: THE BATTLESHIP.

The most lethal surface combatant ever constructed.

🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/7AH5G4IJj5— The White House (@WhiteHouse) December 22, 2025

The president was flanked by images of the first Golden Fleet battleship, "The U.S.S. Defiant." Trump opened his remarks with his approval of this plan for the Navy to start construction on these new battleships.

...very large, the largest we've ever built... battleships," Trump said. "You know, we used to build the Iowa, the Missouri, the Wisconsin, the Alabama, many others. We had big battle ships. These are bigger, but they will be 100 times the force, the power. There's never been anything like these ships. These have been under design consideration for a long time. 

[...]

These are the best in the world, they'll be the fastest, the biggest, and by far, 100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built.

WATCH:

🚨 @POTUS: As Commander-in-Chief, it's my great honor to announce that I've approved a plan for the Navy to begin the construction of two brand new, very large battleships... They'll be the fastest, the biggest, and by far — 100x more powerful than any battleship ever built. pic.twitter.com/226O1UxOeS— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) December 22, 2025

Part of Trump's focus on rebuilding and shoring up Naval dominance is not only national security, but economic might. Trump said, "The construction will create thousands of American jobs," as well as incentivize corporations to revitalize the naval shipyards of decades past. Trump said it's a "tragedy that we allowed this incredible capability to go astray." 

WATCH:

.@POTUS: "We're going to restore America as a major shipbuilding power. We're going to ensure the USA is the most powerful fleet anywhere in the world." pic.twitter.com/78cfeWA4F8— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) December 22, 2025

Trump also announced that the Navy will increase aircraft carriers and graduate to a different class of aircraft carrier. The plans outlined are to start with two battleships, the first being the U.S.S. Defiant, and expand this into a series of 10 battleships.

Trump congratulated Secretary of the Navy John Phelan, who understood, organized, and executed this vision. Trump applauded the fact that drug trafficking on the sea was "down 92.6 percent by sea. Soon we'll be starting the same program on land. The land is much easier. We save 25,000 lives every time we knock out one of those boats with drugs pouring in."

Trump then asked Secretary of War Hegseth to say a few remarks.

Hegseth began,

Mr. President you're exactly right, there are no fishing poles, no fisherman, and no fishing boats. Just drug dealers and narcoterrorists, and with every strike, we're saving American lives. No other president was willing to do real deterrence, that's exactly what's happening.

It's an honor to be here Mr. President, Mr. Secretary, Secretary Rubio, to talk about what "Peace through strength" really looks like. You can talk about it, or you can invest in it and you can build it. And that's exactly what President Trump is doing. 

Hegseth spoke to the success of the goals at the Department of War, to restore the warrior ethos, rebuild the military, including recruitment, and reestablish deterrence. Hegseth declared, "American strength is back on the world stage."

And the announcement of "The Golden Fleet," anchored by new battleships, the biggest and most lethal ever, accomplishes all three of those things and marks a generational commitment to American sea power.

Hegseth declared that this was occurring in all domains, including space.

WATCH:

.@SecWar: "This new class, these new investments, will be the types of things that for decades... the American people will look back and thank @POTUS for having the vision, and the willingness to invest, right now, in capabilities we need..." https://t.co/TiZhdRbIej pic.twitter.com/4ltpjIlBRF— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) December 22, 2025

This new class, these new investments, will be the types of things that for decades, for centuries, the American people will look back and thank President Trump for having the vision and the willingness to invest right now, in capabilities we need today, tomorrow, and long into the future. So, Mr. President, thank you for this investment.

Secretary Phelan stepped to the podium and declared it was "A very consequential day."

Phelan said he talked extensively with the Navy combatant commanders and shared what he learned. 

What I've learned is not only is the president's idea a good one, it's something that the Navy desperately needs and now has a formal requirement for. The future Trump-class battleship, the U.S.S. Defiant, will be the largest, deadliest, and most versatile -- and best looking warship anywhere on the world's oceans. 

I want to thank the President for his vision to make this game-changing capability for the United States Navy.

The IOWA was designed to go on the attack with the biggest guns. And that's exactly what will define the Trump-class battleships. Offensive firepower from the biggest guns of our era. This ship isn't just to swat the arrows, it is going to reach out and kill the archers. 

Now this new battleship will command everything from warships, to drone, and everything in between. We're going to make battle groups great again.

Logistics wins war, and that kind of shipbuilding is the spark that will ignite the industrial base and help power the commercial shipbuilding that the president has called for.

Phelan spoke to the restoration of the Navy shipyards and shipbuilding. 

WATCH:

.@SECNAV: "Our adversaries will know, when the Trump-class USS Defiant appears on the horizon, American victory at sea is inevitable." https://t.co/TiZhdRbIej pic.twitter.com/xtldHiaG8G— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) December 22, 2025

The President has been clear: We must bring back our American maritime industrial might.

The U.S.S. Defiant battleship will inspire awe and reverence for the American flag whenever it pulls into a foreign port. It will be a source of pride for every American when it brings home our brave sailors who will sail Defiant, raise their fists and say, "We are peace through strength." And our adversaries will know that when the Trump-class U.S.S. Defiant appears on the horizon, American victory at sea is inevitable. 

Thank you, Mr. President. Now when a conflict arises you're going to ask not one, but two questions: Where are the carriers? And where are the battleships?

Secretary of State Marco Rubio ended the speeches with these brief remarks.

This is a phenomenal presentation. Thank you, Mr. President. This is American industrial power returning. This is the ability once again to rebuild, to have industry in the United States. This is generational in the change. Not just in terms of applying American warpower and increasing our ability to protect the seas. The U.S. Navy is the single, biggest source of peace in the world of all our forces, because it gives us a global footprint. But it rebuilds American industrial capacity. The ability to make things again in our country has been critical to what the president's agenda has been all about, and this is a tangible reminder of it. I know the country is grateful for it, and generations of Americans will be grateful for it.

WATCH:

.@SecRubio: "This is American industrial power returning... this is generational." https://t.co/TiZhdRbIej pic.twitter.com/MPXfDwMDY1— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) December 22, 2025

President Trump took questions, one of them being what the timetable would be. Trump said that the construction would begin immediately, and the Navy was looking at a window of two years before the U.S.S. Defiant would be built.

[dayglored]

I have recently read articles claiming that the rapidly developing battle-drones are going to make large ships (battleships, even carriers) obsolete because the ships can't effectively defend against the damage a large number of drones can do.

I certainly hope the administration is not just taking that into account with these new ships, but that they already have the technology to defend against the drones. Otherwise this is not going to work out well.

Other than that concern, I think this is great. My grandfather was the head of the New York Shipbuilding Co. when I was a boy, and I grew up with a strong love of big ships, whether military, passenger, or other.

[Carry_Okie]

Of course one wonders about anti-hypersonic-missile capability too (I’m assuming lasers). Yet drones typically have limited range. To project power, one does need a survivable and extended range drone and missile platform. Perhaps that is what this is to be. Don’t know enough to say. It is a big target.

[DnPRK]

As long as the self-licking ice cream cone that is NAVSEA bureaucracy is involved in the development process, any new ship program will be doomed to exorbitant cost overruns and multi-year slips in schedule.

[Fireone]

Except, this time there’s a money guy involved. That’s probably never happened in a government project this size.
Trump gets things done.

[Forward the Light Brigade]

The drawing shows only one gun, I think of a battleship as having more than one in a turret and more than one turret. This looks more like an old soviet battle cruiser with lots of rockets—Like the Peter the Great—the former flagship of the Russian Navy. It needs to be impressive by sight and mean enough looking to prevent wars. Rockets hidden below decks are not very impressive-—big guns in turrets are. six 18 inch atomic cannons with firepower to take out a small nation is impressive enough to stop wars.

[Telepathic Intruder]

I see 3 gun turrets in the bow. There may be more amidships, but it’s hard to tell.

[dalight]

This article by TWZ explains alot.

https://www.twz.com/sea/what-we-know-about-the-trump-class-battleship

On the other hand, there are concerning VLS cell gaps that are fast approaching on the horizon. The service is set to retire the last of its Ticonderoga class cruisers, each one of which has 122 VLS cells, at the end of the decade. The Navy will also need to make up for the impending loss of the huge missile launch capacity offered by its four Ohio class nuclear guided missile submarines, which are also set to be decommissioned before 2030. The Trump class will clearly feature a massive set of VLS arrays that could help offset some of this deficit.

Something has to be done. The Ticonderogas have to be replaced. The point of the Laser based weapons is that they knock down small fry flying threats rapidly especially when commanded by an AI based targeting system. And this marks the "official" recommitment to the inclusion of Rail Guns on US warships. The point of all of this size is to provide enough electrical generation to power this monster which the "small ships" would be burdened to provide.. which is why the navy walked away the first time from Rail Guns, and barrel ware, but apparently the Japanese have solved this aspect, and are going forward with Rail Guns.

[AndyJackson]

It needs to bring the firepower necessary to keep the Chinese locked down inside the first island chain, help attrit forces operating there and shoot down or sink anything that breaks out. And lots of drones to take out the
Chinese maritime auxiliary fleet. From far away. We have ignored maritime strategy and sea power for far too long to fight worthless Asian land wars.

[Fireone]

That’s the obsolete part, when it comes to battleships.
Big guns are a thing of the past. Think lasers.

[know.your.why]

Sounds like a good distraction-strategy for US enemies while we work on a different war deterrent.

[jacknhoo]

I’m sure their drones never crossed their minds. /s

[equaviator]

Big warships have a certain presence and just the sight of them is enough to be a deterrent. If there’s any doubt then f*ck around and find out. Bring it on.

[maddog55]

Doesn’t make any sense...just a big target. An aircraft carrier is a huge target and requires a lot of other ships to protect it.

[PGalt]

https://patriots.win/p/1ARdRH3fuj

Thanks for posting.

[CapnJack]

I hope the new ships come with the Wave Motion Gun.

[rdcbn1]

One of the reasons they brought the battleship back in the 1980s was because they are so hard to sink. There really was no stand off weapon at the time that could effectively kill them

There is a justification for a ship of this class - survivable like a battleship, massive anti missile capacity and big enough to mount directed energy weapons

Pretty much incorporates the lessons in fleet defense we learned from the recent Red Sea debacle

[equaviator]

I have to believe that with every aircraft carrier comes the capability of defending itself with onboard air power. You've got patrols, recon, interceptors, rescue-recovery, rotary-wings, and land-based AF/ANG forces are never too far away, not to mention the submersibles. An enemy would almost have to nuke a carrier like that by surprise for it to have a real impact.

[P8riot]

I was in the Med on the Ike (CVN-69) when the Marine barracks in Beruit was blown up. Now the Ike is big ship, but we were all amazed when the New Jersey showed up. Even moreso when they started firing salvos into the hills beyond Beruit.

[DocRock]

"The point of all of this size is to provide enough electrical generation to power this monster which the "small ships" would be burdened to provide.. which is why the navy walked away the first time from Rail Guns, and barrel ware, but apparently the Japanese have solved this aspect, and are going forward with Rail Guns."

Trump bought a cutting edge Plasma Fusion company for $6 billion dollars on the 18th. Tri Alpha Energy was acquired by Trump Media. My face hurts from smiling. 😁