The U.S. Department of War has announced plans to construct a new class of guided missile battleships, beginning with the future USS Defiant (BBG-1), positioning the vessel as the centerpiece of a broader naval expansion initiative branded the “Golden Fleet.” While the announcement revives the historic battleship designation, officials stress that the Trump-class concept represents a fundamentally modern platform—less a return to big-gun naval warfare than a missile-heavy, command-centric surface combatant designed to survive and fight in a saturated anti-ship missile environment.
According to details released via the War Department’s Pentagon News account, the Trump-class ships are in the early design phase, with construction of the lead ship targeted for the early 2030s. Displacing between 30,000 and 40,000 tons, the class would rank among the largest surface combatants built by the United States since World War II, signaling a major shift in how the Navy intends to sustain surface combat power against peer adversaries.
At the heart of the Golden Fleet concept is a specific operational challenge: how to keep U.S. surface forces lethal after the opening days of a high-end conflict. In a peer war, aircraft carriers may be forced to operate at extended stand-off ranges due to anti-ship ballistic missiles and long-range strike systems, while existing destroyers and cruisers can exhaust their missile inventories rapidly.
The Trump-class battleship is presented as an answer to that problem. The Golden Fleet portal frames the ship as a long-range strike and air defense platform capable of carrying vastly larger missile magazines than current surface combatants, while also functioning as a fleet command node. Official material indicates the program would begin with two ships, with an eventual ambition of 20 to 25 hulls—suggesting the class is intended not as a niche experiment, but as a central pillar of future surface warfare.
Concept designs place the Trump class in the 30,000- to 40,000-ton displacement range, with USS Defiant depicted at roughly 35,000 tons. The ship is shown exceeding 840 feet in length and approaching 880 feet overall, with a beam between 105 and 115 feet and an estimated draft of 24 to 30 feet. These dimensions make it closer in size to a small aircraft carrier than to a traditional destroyer.
Propulsion is described as a combined gas turbine and diesel configuration capable of more than 30 knots, while also generating significant electrical power margins. That power is critical for operating energy-intensive sensors and future weapons. Crew size is projected between 650 and 850 personnel, reflecting both the vessel’s scale and its intended role as a command flagship rather than a conventional escort.
Navy messaging emphasizes that the Trump-class battleship is designed to host a robust command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence (C4I) suite. In a distributed maritime operations framework, the ship would act as a “quarterback” for surface action groups, coordinating manned and unmanned platforms while retaining the protection and endurance needed to operate forward.
The main battery of the Trump class is unapologetically missile-focused. Navy statements tie the design directly to the deployment of Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) hypersonic weapons and the Surface-Launched Cruise Missile–Nuclear (SLCM-N), indicating an intent to combine long-range conventional strike with a nuclear deterrent option on a surface combatant.
Concept art and technical descriptions circulating in coverage point to a Mk 41 Vertical Launching System installation of approximately 128 cells, supplemented by a dedicated 12-cell battery for CPS hypersonic missiles. In practical terms, this would allow a single ship to carry a mixed load of Tomahawk land-attack missiles, SM-2 and SM-6 interceptors for area air defense and surface strike, and potentially SM-3 missiles for ballistic missile defense—alongside hypersonic weapons intended for time-sensitive or heavily defended targets.
The War Department’s press language consistently highlights “larger magazines” and “deep strike” as the defining attributes of the class, positioning the Trump-class battleship as a magazine and presence multiplier capable of sustaining combat operations long after smaller escorts have fired their last missiles.
In addition to its missile armament, the Trump-class design reintroduces advanced gun systems as part of a layered engagement strategy. The Golden Fleet concept promotes directed-energy weapons to achieve more favorable exchange ratios against incoming threats, and reporting attributes to the ship a 32-megajoule railgun firing hypervelocity projectiles, supplemented by two 5-inch guns using similar ammunition.
If realized, these systems would give USS Defiant a range of lower-cost engagement options against drones, fast attack craft, and potentially certain missile profiles. The design also includes provision for two 300-kilowatt or two 600-kilowatt class lasers, intended to complement kinetic close-in systems and provide sustained defensive fire limited primarily by power generation and thermal management.
However, both railguns and high-power shipboard lasers remain technically demanding. Outside observers note that the Navy previously scaled back railgun development after years of investment, raising questions about timelines and maturity. As a result, early Trump-class hulls are expected to rely on proven systems, with advanced guns and lasers introduced as spiral upgrades rather than prerequisites for initial operational capability.
Defiant’s defensive concept centers on layered sensing, electronic warfare, and rapid engagement. The Navy explicitly assigns the Trump class an Integrated Air and Missile Defense mission, capable of operating within a carrier strike group or commanding its own surface action group. Concept artwork depicts an Aegis-type combat system architecture, underscoring the intent to make the battleship a high-value air defense node.
For close-in defense, the ship is shown equipped with two Rolling Airframe Missile launchers, multiple Mk 38 30-millimeter guns positioned fore and aft, and at least two 20-millimeter class close-range weapon systems to counter leakers that penetrate the outer layers.
The design also integrates two Counter-Unmanned Systems modules, reflecting the growing threat posed by drone swarms in both littoral and open-ocean environments. A large flight deck and hangar capable of supporting a tiltrotor aircraft such as the V-22 further extend the ship’s reach, enabling rapid movement of personnel, parts, and sensors while supporting maritime interdiction and special operations missions.
On development, official accounts state that the Navy will lead design while partnering closely with the defense industrial base. Notably, the announcement indicates that the Trump class would replace the earlier DDG(X) destroyer concept, with intended DDG(X) capabilities folded into the larger hull. This suggests a strategy of consolidating advanced surface combatant requirements into a single, high-capacity platform.
The approach implies reliance on mature subsystems—such as Mk 41 launchers and established combat systems—while treating railguns and high-power lasers as growth options. Broader reporting emphasizes the administration’s message about expanding industrial output nationwide, a goal that would require sustained funding, workforce expansion, and shipyard throughput improvements to avoid competition with other major naval construction programs.
In comparative terms, the Trump-class battleship occupies a displacement and magazine category unmatched by other Western navies. Britain’s Type 45 destroyers and the Franco-Italian Horizon class operate in the 7,000- to 8,000-ton range with far smaller missile capacities. Japan’s Maya-class destroyers, among the most capable Aegis ships outside the United States, carry 96 Mk 41 cells at roughly 10,000 tons full load.
The closest analogue in ambition is the U.S. Navy’s own Zumwalt class, designed around large electrical power margins and now being adapted for hypersonic weapons. Even so, Zumwalt remains far smaller than a 35,000-ton battleship concept.
If built as described, the Trump-class battleship would mark a significant shift in U.S. Navy surface combat power, concentrating long-range strike, air defense, and command capability into fewer but far more capable flagships. The capability impact is straightforward: more missiles per hull, greater growth margin for directed energy, and a platform designed to fight forward and endure.
Whether the Golden Fleet vision can be realized will depend on sustained political will, industrial capacity, and the successful integration of advanced weapons. But as outlined, the Trump-class battleship represents a bold attempt to redefine the role of the capital surface combatant for the missile age, aimed squarely at maintaining sea control and power projection well into the 2030s and beyond.
