Trump announces new class of heavily armed warships named after himself

Trump unveils new battleship class

President Donald Trump on Monday unveiled a new class of heavily armed warships that will carry his name — a distinction typically reserved for US leaders who have left office.

Two Trump-class ships are planned initially, though the president said the number could increase significantly in the future. He described them as "some of the most lethal surface warfare ships" and "the largest battleship in the history of our country."

The announcement was made at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, where he was joined by Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Navy Secretary John Phelan, with images of the planned vessels displayed nearby.

Trump said the ships will displace between 30,000 and 40,000 tons and will feature missiles, guns, and advanced weaponry still under development, including lasers and hypersonic missiles.

"They'll also carry the nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missiles currently under development," he added.

While the Trump-class vessels will be much larger than current US destroyers and cruisers, their projected displacement is slightly smaller than the last American battleships — the Iowa class — which were retired in the 1990s.

Trump's announcement came just days after the Navy publicized plans for another new class of ships -- frigates dubbed the FF(X) that it said will "complement the fleet's larger, multi-mission warships."

Phelan has said the FF(X) will be based on an existing design from shipbuilder HII that is already in use by the United States Coast Guard, and that the aim is for the first of the new frigates to be in the water by 2028.

The new frigate plans were announced after Phelan said in late November that four of six planned ships from the Constellation class of frigates would be canceled, while two that are already under construction are "under review."

Washington has fallen significantly behind Beijing when it comes to the number of ships in its Navy, and a report to Congress earlier this year noted that US military officials and other observers are concerned by the pace of China's shipbuilding efforts.

"We're going to restore America as a major shipbuilding power," Trump said on Monday, adding: "We're going to ensure the USA has the most powerful fleet anywhere in the world, and long into the future, with battleships helping lead the way."