According to a report by CNN on June 6th, the United States plans to build 15 Trump-class battleships, with a total cost potentially reaching $275 billion. However, local American shipbuilders may not have the necessary capabilities to carry out such construction.
Reports state that the Trump-class battleships will be powered by nuclear energy. A report by the U.S. Congressional Budget Office shows that the cost of building the first ship will be $23.4 billion, and the cost per subsequent ship will be $18 billion. It is worth mentioning that the cost of building the U.S. Ford-class aircraft carriers in 2017 was $13.3 billion.
Besides high construction costs, the report also pointed out that U.S. domestic shipbuilding yards may be completely incapable of taking on the project.
The American shipbuilding industry has long been troubled by delays in construction time and overruns in costs. Both of America's leading surface combat ship manufacturers are currently “unable to complete the construction of destroyers on schedule.” They also do not have the qualifications or capacity to build nuclear-powered ships.
According to reports, US Navy officials stated that the final assembly of this type of battleship will be carried out at the Virginia Shipbuilding Plant in Newport News. This plant is currently responsible for building aircraft carriers and some nuclear submarines.
However, the CBO report raises doubts, stating that adding this new task for the construction of battle ships will inevitably drain resources from projects involving aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines, which are already facing delays in construction.
The report concludes that developing and building a completely new type of ship from scratch will impose a significant burden on the entire American shipbuilding industry. “Almost all of the first ships of any new type of vessels built for the U.S. Navy will experience problems where the construction timeline exceeds expectations, and the cost far exceeds initial estimates.”
Even if all the construction challenges can be overcome, is it a wise choice to invest huge amounts of money in such large warships?
American retired Navy Admiral James Stavridis previously stated that the current proliferation of high-speed missiles and advanced torpedoes means that putting most of the resources into a few large ships is clearly not a wise strategy.
By the end of 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that a "Trump"-class battleship would be built, making it the fastest and largest warship in the U.S. Navy, as well as the main force of the so-called "Golden Fleet" in the future. According to data released by the White House, the "Trump"-class battleship has extremely powerful capabilities: it will be equipped with electromagnetic rail guns, laser weapons, and various missiles including hypersonic missiles and new types of cruise missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
