War New ‘Trump-Class’ Navy Warships Named After President: What to Know

President Donald Trump announced plans Monday for a new class of large Navy warships bearing his name.

The so-called “Trump-class” ships would be described as battleships, though officials say they would be next-generation surface combatants built on technology derived from the Navy’s existing Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. Retired Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, now a senior director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told the Associated Press the announcement is expected to include a new, large surface combatant class of ship and up to 50 support vessels.

The White House is framing the move as a centerpiece of Trump's vision for a revamped “Golden Fleet."

...
The president was joined Monday at Mar-a-Lago by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Navy Secretary John Phelan for what the White House called a “major announcement.”

The announcement follows renewed White House pressure to expand U.S. shipbuilding after the Navy recently scrapped plans for a smaller warship amid cost overruns and delays.

The plan is being unveiled at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort as he vacations in Florida and as U.S. forces conduct operations in the Caribbean that the administration says are aimed at disrupting drug trafficking and increasing pressure on Venezuela’s government. Retired Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery said he supports expanding the fleet with additional support ships but questioned the need for a new battleship-like vessel.

Historically, the term battleship has referred to large, heavily armored ships armed with massive guns, a class that peaked in prominence during World War II. The role of such ships declined rapidly after the war as aircraft carriers and long-range missiles became dominant, and the Navy decommissioned its last Iowa-class battleships in the 1990s after briefly modernizing them in the 1980s.

Trump has long expressed strong views about the Navy’s fleet, at times favoring older technologies. During his first term, he unsuccessfully pushed to return to steam-powered catapults on aircraft carriers and has repeatedly criticized the appearance of Navy ships, including complaints about rust.

Navy Secretary John Phelan has told senators that Trump has frequently texted him late at night about ship maintenance and design, and Trump has previously said he personally intervened to alter the design of a now-canceled frigate, calling the original version “a terrible-looking ship.”


...
This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow.

This article includes reporting by the Associated Press.

https://ghostarchive.org/archive/C45kn

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-battleships-us-navy-pete-hegseth-11256267

 

[A Cardboard Box]

Aren't you being a little naive regarding contractors? Providing the best, most suitable, most cost effective products, or delivering a product that they've been paid for at all is not their job. Their job is to deliver maximum profits to their shareholders. In fact it might even be illegal for them to do any of the former at the expense of the latter.

It's a little of column A little of column B. The issue with cost is a mix of greed, as you say, but also competition. Due to the Clinton Era "peace dividend" (i.e unilateral disarmament and deindustrialization), there is not enough competition to drive down costs, and we don't have enough skilled labor or knowledge to do the jobs that need to be done efficiently. Post Last Supper, there are only two primary naval defense contractors, General Dynamics (which owns Bath Iron Works, Electric Boat Company, and NASSCO) and HII (which owns Newport News and Ingalls). These two companies make up virtually all of US Navy procurement, and their capacity is extremely limited. There are two yards which can make Burkes, there's two yards which can make Virginia Class subs, there's one yard which can make Ford Class carriers, there's one yard which can make America and San Antonio Class amphibious assault ships. Parallel production is virtually non existent and the extremely high overhead costs and will-they-won't-they fickle nature of Congress and procurement means that contractors are extremely reluctant to invest in more capacity and employees, because, as we've seen with Ford recently, they could spend $20B on infrastructure just for the next administration to tell them that they can piss up a rope and they wasted that money. It's the same issue with just spinning up a million artillery rounds a month, which we found out with the Ukraine deal. There is no slack capacity because nobody pays for slack capacity, and nobody wants to take the jobs because, again like with Ford, you can get what seems like a good paying manufacturing job with killer benefits, only to be laid off with zero notice because the administration changed, and you're standing there with your dick in your hand because none of your skills translate to another job, because you're hyper specialized. I would love to talk more in depth if you're genuinely curious.

As for the designs, those are worked on with the US Navy itself, the designs are not created by the contractors alone.

What I'm implying more, than incompetency, is greed. Which I'm not even saying is negative. I respect the hustle.

Would they not WANT to just get funding for something like this? Even if it wasn't needed?

This is GD or HII's worst nightmare, a class of ship this heavy handed administration is demanding which they know will never enter production. You're looking at tens of billions in building or refitting shipyards to make these and developing all new technology just to be left holding the bag when the government pulls the gotcha card and announces that the program is cancelled entirely. This has happened with virtually every major project that isn't a carrier or submarine since the end of the Cold War, so it's just expected now. The defense industry has no faith in the government and routinely is asked to invest their own money, time, and expertise into these projects which go nowhere. They are hesitant to commit to or even recommend new projects, and ideally would rather make Burkes until the heat death of the universe. The only thing that will change that is a bipartisan, long term defense reindustrialization plan, where they will be guaranteed a minimum amount of government support for the next 30-50 years.

 

[Yamaha YM2612]

Never has one dude needed so much to have so many things named for him. It's like that dog who has to piss on every single bush, and it's odd.

He deserves recognition for fixing everything dont you think?

I mean, we typically, in america, name shit like carriers after good presidents. If we have Eisenhower or lincoln ships, why is a trump one not ok?

This is giga retarded and will be cancelled before the design process even begins in earnest. Holy shit. This flies in the face of every aspect of modern naval surface combat. Just make the Arleigh Burke II and crank out a million of them. Holy shit.

Its weird that you speak so loudly on topics you dont know about hmm

 

[Random Internet Person]

I took a look at Japan's rail gun and that's nowhere near operational

But has it been made into a waifu yet?

 

[Sargon's wife's son]

This is not a battleship. Battleships have 16 inch guns personally 16 inch guns of pussy shit. The modern US battleship should have 30 inch guns. Cause fuck you, that's why.

 

[A Cardboard Box]

Its weird that you speak so loudly on topics you dont know about hmm

He deserves recognition for fixing everything dont you think?

I mean, we typically, in america, name shit like carriers after good presidents. If we have Eisenhower or lincoln ships, why is a trump one not ok?

I wish I could be this confidently retarded. Life would be so much easier. Also, don't double post, retard.

 

[Cheese Squeeze]

I would love to talk more in depth if you're genuinely curious.

It's a topic that gets discussed a lot post 2022 so I'm somewhat familiar with it but please do. Another area where this seems to be biting them in the ass the hardest is patriot missile systems and interceptors but that's another topic. As for govt vs contractors I think the contractors share a good part of the responsibility for the long term instability simply because they're the ones trying to make everything as profitable as possible. If they weren't so greedy maybe less shit would get cancelled. Then you've got the whole MIC/Govt revolving door where people leave government positions to work for the MIC and vice versa. This overlap between the contractors and the government isn't improving things somehow.

 

[Yamaha YM2612]

I wish I could be this confidently retarded. Life would be so much easier. Also, don't double post, retard.

You arent making sense.

Some thing "retarded" is when you say something wrong/incorrect etc. Its not the word you use for something correct

 

[Cheese Squeeze]

There is no slack capacity because nobody pays for slack capacity

Should have included this in the original reply but w/e. How did the russians keep their slack capacity intact from the cold war up till now do you think?

The only thing that will change that is a bipartisan, long term defense reindustrialization plan, where they will be guaranteed a minimum amount of government support for the next 30-50 years.

Putin has done something like that with russian private industry. IIRC they were reluctant to start building shit only for the sanctions to perhaps be lifted and they're left with their dicks in their hands like you said. Apparently putin reassured them that even if the sanctions were lifted (lol) they would be supported.

 

[Blewberry Nausea]

I like how in military affairs the terminally online unemployed always know better than people who actually do the job.

Sir if people on the internet only talked about topics they were experienced in 95% of the shitposting would disappear. Do we really want to live in that world?

 

[Farm Hand]

Man, I really wish there were more places where I could see some serious, steelman discussion of this battleship plan and the need to grow/evolve the US Navy (which I believe everyone knows to be a necessity). I don't think there's any place on reddit that isn't a dismissive collection of "Orange Man Bad", "battleships are obsolete", and "lol @ the US making a new military vehicle ever again".

 

[Blewberry Nausea]

Man, I really wish there were more places where I could see some serious, steelman discussion of this battleship plan and the need to grow/evolve the US Navy (which I believe everyone knows to be a necessity). I don't think there's any place on reddit that isn't a dismissive collection of "Orange Man Bad", "battleships are obsolete", and "lol @ the US making a new military vehicle ever again".

There probably is some niche forum full of such people who work in ship design, construction, or even just served that do talk about this but I wouldn’t know where that is really.

 

[majob]

Honestly amazing to see people dog on this because of partisan seething. Our Navy has needed to invest in larger tonnage ships decades ago and we're now behind the curve compared to our enemies

 

[cuttysnark]

I'm sorry, If Biden introduced an 800 foot warship class that was named The Biden Class and featured an image of Joe Biden on the superstructure he would not receive a pat on the back from Conservatives.

 

[Margo Martindale]

So if its basically the American equivalent of the Kirov class battlescruiser, it might not be such a bad idea

 

[Blewberry Nausea]

Honestly amazing to see people dog on this because of partisan seething. Our Navy has needed to invest in larger tonnage ships decades ago and we're now behind the curve compared to our enemies

Question: are the shipyards even in a state to build these ships in any capacity?

The answer should tell you why there is some balking at this announcement. It isn’t all partisanship, some of it is actually about the fact that this is literally putting the cart before the horse. Hell it’s putting the tree the cart will be made from before the actual business even exists.

 

[Hitman One]

I'm sorry, If Biden introduced an 800 foot warship class that was named The Biden Class and featured an image of Joe Biden on the superstructure he would not receive a pat on the back from Conservatives.

You see, Drumpf shoveling money into the gaping maw of the military industrial complex is le based because it "makes libtards seethe." If Biden did the same then then it would be cringe and further proof that he is a demented old man who should be impeached.

 

[Sargon's wife's son]

I do love the conversation this probably had in the White House. Myth, fellow Americans, my Navy guys, I want some ships with some lasers on it, Baron said. We need lasers, rail guns, a lot of missiles, but railguns and lasers, I need it now. Big, beautiful ships in American shipyards.

 

[Cheese Squeeze]

So if its basically the American equivalent of the Kirov class battlescruiser, it might not be such a bad idea

View attachment 8322632

It's certainly an interesting topic. All the people shitting on the kirov class for being too big and one-baskety for the last 10 years or so now need to decide whether to flip-flop or double down. This will be complicated by the kirov being nuclear when it probably doesn't need to be and the trump being diesel where nuclear is arguably the better option. Or maybe it's all irrelevant because it gets cancelled before it even gets started as cardbox suggests

 

[Lieutenant Rasczak]

That makes me wonder if it packs enough firepower and defense to warrant being that size. A bigger ship is naturally less nimble than smaller ship, and in the age of missile combat a Destroyer can pack as much punch, with less overall ammunition. It makes more sense to have a swarm of Destroyers because the bigger ship just becomes a massive target. As such it needs to not only hit hard enough to justify its existence, but also be able to defend itself.

It's about 15,000 tons larger than what the Japanese plan to build with their new 20,000 ton Cruiser, and it's about the same tonnage of a North Carolina Class. China similarly is planning on building a 25,000 ton surface combatant from what I've heard. My one pet peeve is that there's two single 5" turrets instead of a single dual turret. I get why, you don't have to put R&D into developing a dual 5" turret but you're still going to get problems with having to maintain two single turrets as opposed to a single double turret.

With this said, this could be a further development of the arsenal ship concept though I have mixed feelings on it. Yes, we need a replacement for the Ticonderoga Class since the GG(X) program of the 2000s never came to fruition.

 

[WelperHelper99]

Lazerpig has voiced his disapproval along with his many dysgenic friends.