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Dec 23, 2025

Trump unveils ‘Golden Fleet’ of Navy battleships, touts them as ‘more powerful than any' ever built

Trump unveils ‘Golden Fleet’ of Navy battleships, touts them as ‘more powerful than any' ever built

Trump said the new 'Golden Fleet' of battleships would expand U.S. naval power and speed up defense production

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President Donald Trump announced a new fleet of ships Monday, known as the "Golden Fleet," as he revealed he approved plans for two new "very large battleships."

"As you know, we're desperately in need of ships. Our ships are some of them have gotten old and tired and obsolete," Trump said, flanked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Navy Secretary John Phelan.

Trump said the new ships would be "100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built," in an address from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

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Renderings behind the president showed the new "Trump class," including one named the USS Defiant. 

"We haven't built a battleship since 1994. These cutting-edge vessels will be some of the most lethal surface warfare ships … other than our submarines."

Trump said the Navy would immediately start procuring two ships, working up to 10 and eventually 20 ships to 25 ships in total, and would aim to have the first two within two and a half years. 

Trump described the ships as heavily armed platforms combining missiles and traditional naval guns, arguing that gun-based firepower could deliver combat effects at a fraction of the cost of missiles. Each ship would displace more than 30,000 tons to 40,000 tons and serve as a flagship of the U.S. fleet, he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump makes an announcement about the Navy's "Golden Fleet", as Secretary of State Marco Rubio listens, at Mar-a-lago in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., December 22, 2025.

Trump aims to have the first two of his new "Trump class" of Navy battleships operational within 2.5 years.  (Jessica Koscielniak/Reuters)

The president said the battleships would be equipped with advanced weapons, including hypersonic missiles, electric rail guns and high-powered laser systems, as well as nuclear-capable sea-launched cruise missiles currently under development. Trump also said the ships would feature state-of-the-art defensive systems and carry what he described as "tremendous numbers of missiles."

Trump denied that the ships were meant to counter China. 

"It’s a counter to everybody. It’s not China, we get along great with China," Trump said. "I have a great relationship with President Xi and it’s not China. It's, just everybody you don't know who comes along, but, we just wanted peace through strength."

The announcement comes amid an ongoing debate within defense circles over the future of the U.S. fleet, with recent naval strategy emphasizing submarines, unmanned systems and more distributed surface forces.

Some defense planners have argued that large surface ships can be more visible and vulnerable targets in modern, missile-heavy conflicts, while others argue larger platforms can provide greater firepower, endurance and command-and-control capabilities.

He pointed to World War II-era shipbuilding as a model, noting that the U.S. once produced multiple ships per day, compared with what he described as today’s slower production pace.

A rendering of 'Trump Class' USS Defiant is displayed, on the day U.S. President Donald Trump makes an announcement about the Navy's "Golden Fleet", at Mar-a-lago in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., December 22, 2025.

Image displayed behind Trump showed an example of his new "Trump class" battleships. 

Trump also tied the battleship announcement to a broader push to accelerate U.S. defense production. He said he plans to meet next week with major defense contractors to demand faster delivery timelines, increased capital investment in new factories, and limits on stock buybacks and executive compensation.

"We make the best equipment in the world, but they don’t make it fast enough," Trump said, arguing that companies should reinvest profits into production capacity rather than dividends and buybacks.

"I mean, I have sold more planes than any president by far times, probably 20. So every time I go someplace, I sell 100 planes," he said. "And I'm always having to say five years, six years, seven years helicopters, Apache helicopters, many years."

The announcement comes at a time when the Trump administration has elevated shipbuilding to a White House–level priority, establishing a dedicated office to oversee maritime industrial policy and signaling a broader push to expand U.S. naval capacity.

Defense leaders for years have warned that the U.S. shipbuilding industrial base has struggled to keep pace with demand, citing workforce shortages, fragile supplier networks, aging infrastructure, and persistent delays at major shipyards.

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