President Donald Trump has announced a bold plan for the Navy to build a new, large warship that he is calling a \u201cbattleship\u201d as part of a larger vision to create a “Golden Fleet.”<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ll be the fastest, the biggest, and by far 100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built,\u201d Trump claimed during the announcement at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.<\/p>\n
The ship, according to Trump, will be longer and larger than the World War II-era Iowa-class battleships and will be armed with hypersonic missiles, rail guns, and high-powered lasers \u2014 all technologies that are still being developed by the Navy.<\/p>\n
Just a month ago, the Navy scrapped its plans to build a new, small warship, citing growing delays and cost overruns, deciding instead to go with a modified version of a Coast Guard cutter that was being produced until recently. The sea service has also failed to build its other newly designed ships, like the new Ford-class aircraft carrier and Columbia-class submarines, on time and on budget.<\/p>\n
Historically, the term battleship has referred to a very specific type of ship \u2014 a large, heavily armored vessel armed with massive guns designed to bombard other ships or targets ashore. This type of ship was at the height of prominence during World War II, and the largest of the U.S. battleships, the Iowa-class, were roughly 60,000 tons.<\/p>\n
After World War II, the battleship’s role in modern fleets diminished rapidly in favor of aircraft carriers and long-range missiles. The U.S. Navy did modernize four Iowa-class battleships in the 1980s by adding cruise missiles and anti-ship missiles, along with modern radars, but by the 1990s all four were decommissioned.<\/p>\n
Trump has long held strong opinions on specific aspects of the Navy\u2019s fleet, sometimes with a view toward keeping older technology instead of modernizing.<\/p>\n
During his first term, he unsuccessfully called for the return to steam-powered catapults to launch jets from the Navy\u2019s newest aircraft carriers instead of the more modern electromagnetic system.<\/p>\n
He has also complained to Phelan about the look of the Navy\u2019s destroyers and decried Navy ships being covered in rust.<\/p>\n
Phelan told senators at his confirmation hearing that Trump “has texted me numerous times very late at night, sometimes after one (o\u2019clock) in the morning\u201d about \u201crusty ships or ships in a yard, asking me what am I doing about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
On a visit to a shipyard that was working on the now-canceled Constellation-class frigate in 2020, Trump said he personally changed the design of the ship.<\/p>\n
\u201cI looked at it, I said, \u2018That\u2019s a terrible-looking ship, let\u2019s make it beautiful,\u2019\u201d Trump said at the time.<\/p>\n
He said Monday he will have a direct role in designing this new warship as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe U.S. Navy will lead the design of these ships along with me, because I\u2019m a very aesthetic person,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n