--- title: "Trump Class Battleship Construction Won’t Begin Until 2030s" description: "With Trump class ship construction many years off, the survival of a program to build such large and expensive warships is even more questionable." date: "2025-12-23" modified: "2025-12-23" authors: - name: "Joseph Trevithick" job_title: "Deputy Editor" link: "https://www.twz.com/authors/joseph-trevithick" - name: "Howard Altman" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://www.twz.com/authors/howard-altman" url: "https://www.twz.com/sea/trump-class-battleship-construction-wont-begin-until-2030s" categories: - "Cruisers" - "Destroyers" - "Navies" - "News & Features" - "Sea" - "U.S. Navy" --- # Trump Class Battleship Construction Won’t Begin Until 2030s ![A Congressman wants the Navy to prove building the nuclear-powered Trump class battleship won't exacerbate existing delays in nuclear submarine and aircraft carrier construction.]() *USN* The U.S. Navy has confirmed to *TWZ* that construction of the first two [Trump class "battleships"]() is not expected to start until the early 2030s. While cost estimates are still being firmed up, the service is moving now to award sole-source contracts to Bath Iron Works, Huntington Ingalls Industries, and Gibbs & Cox for initial design and other work related to these large surface combatants. Readers can first get up to speed on what is already known about the plans for these ships and the glaring questions surrounding them in our initial reporting [here](). President Donald Trump officially rolled out the *Trump* class warship plan at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, last night. With displacements of at least around 35,000 tons, the vessels are set to be armed with an array of [nuclear]() and [conventional missiles](), as well as [electromagnetic railguns](), [traditional 5-inch naval guns](), [laser directed energy weapons](), and more. Production is supposed to start with two ships, the first of which will be named USS *Defiant*, out of a planned initial batch of 10 hulls. Trump has said that the total fleet size might eventually grow to 20 to 25 examples. ![]() *A rendering the White House shared yeterday of the future *Trump* class USS *Defiant*. *White House/USN** "Design efforts are underway with start of construction planned for the early 2030s," a U.S. Navy official told *TWZ*. "Design studies are ongoing to refine Navy cost estimates. These details will be available in the PB FY27 \[President's Budget for Fiscal Year 2027\] budget request." Another individual familiar with the program also told *TWZ* that work to build the first *Trump* class ships is not expected to begin until the early 2030s. They also told us that the new "battleship" plan is supplanting the Navy's [DDG(X) next-generation destroyer effort](), and will leverage work already done on that design concept. "We're going to start almost immediately, and we're probably talking about two and a half years," Trump had said at yesterday's rollout when asked to give a timeline for work on the first two *Trump* class ships. However, it is unclear what part of the process he might have been referring to. *TWZ* has reached out to the White House for more information. https://twitter.com/clashreport/status/2003233781818474776 As already noted, the Navy did put out two contracting notices regarding what is also referred to as the BBG(X) guided missile battleship program following the rollout last night. "Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) intends to contract on a sole source basis with General Dynamics Bath Irons \[sic\] Works Corporation (BIW) and Huntington Ingalls Industries-Ingalls Shipbuilding (HII Ingalls) for BBG(X) guided missile battleship design, engineering, and design analysis requirements. This includes shipbuilder engineering and design analysis necessary to produce BBG(X) design products in support of Navy-led design for BBG(X), including Preliminary Design (PD) and Contract Design (CD)," one of the notices says. "BIW and HII Ingalls will assist the Government design team in maturing a total ship design through a rigorous systems engineering process, including, but not limited to, pre­planned reviews such as System Functional Review (SFR) and Preliminary Design Review (PDR). The estimated period of performance for these efforts is 72 months." In addition, NAVSEA "intends to contract on a sole source basis with Leidos Gibbs & Cox for surface combatant ship design engineering (SC SDE) efforts to support future Navy surface combatants. As part of these efforts, Leidos Gibbs & Cox will primarily execute design activity in support of Preliminary Design (PD), Contract Design (CD), and other design efforts needed to support the BBG(X) guided missile battleship program," per the other notice. "As the SC SDE contractor, Leidos Gibbs & Cox will serve as an extension of the Government's ship design team, delivering specialized expertise in early-stage design analysis and requirements definition. This early design phase support is crucial for ensuring the feasibility, affordability, and performance of the ship design prior to detail design and construction. The estimated period of performance for this contract is 72 months." For reference, 72 months is six years. If that timeline were to start next month, the period of performance would run into 2032. This aligns directly with the expected start of actual construction in the early 2030s. ![]() *Another rendering of a *Trump* class large surface combatant. *White House/USN** "We are committed to continue our work with the Navy and our industry partners to expand the Navy’s Fleet," an HII spokesperson told *TWZ* when asked for more information. "We maintain a full range of engineering and design capabilities and are looking forward to providing the benefit of their experience and expertise to this effort, building on the work done to date in support of the DDG(X). We respectfully defer to Navy on the selection criteria and any details on requirements.” “We are proud to have built the Navy’s most technologically advanced surface combatants and our shipbuilders are committed to continuing that work in lock step with the Navy to expand their Fleet,” Chris Kastner, President and CEO of HII, had also told *TWZ* in a statement yesterday. “We understand the urgency and have taken a number of actions to increase the speed at which we can deliver. We have seen improvements in our labor and throughput and expect these to continue in 2026. These efforts combined with our distributed shipbuilding network are working, and more capacity is being created to meet these critical requirements." Bath Iron Works also deferred to the Navy when asked for more details. “General Dynamics Bath Iron Works stands ready to fully support the Navy in the design and construction of this important new shipbuilding program,” Charles Krugh, President of Bath Iron Works, had separately said in [a statement to *USNI News*]() yesterday. *TWZ* has also reached out to Gibbs & Cox for more details. It's also interesting to note here that 2032 was when the Navy originally hoped to see construction of new DDG(X) destroyers begin. As of January of this year, that timeline had been pushed back to 2034 at the earliest. ![]() *A graphic the US Navy previously released showing a notional DDG(X) design. *USN** With BBG(X) still in the very early design phase, the U.S. Navy official also told *TWZ* that there is currently no timeline for when the future USS *Defiant* will actually be launched. It would then take some amount of time after that to complete the vessel's construction, conduct initial sea trials, and then commission it into service. In the meantime, NAVSEA has shared some additional details about the expected capabilities of the *Trump* class warships. As it stands now, the vessels are set to be between 840 and 880 feet long, have a beam (the widest point in the hull) between 105 and 115 feet, displace at least 35,000 tons, and be able to reach a top speed greater than 30 knots. ![]() *A graphic detailing the current expected specifications of the *Trump* class design. *USN via USNI News** For comparison, the Navy's newest Flight III *Arleigh Burke* class destroyers and its *Ticonderoga* class cruisers have [stated displacements of 10,864 tons]() and [10,752 tons](), respectively, with full combat loads. Both of those ships are also hundreds of feet shorter and dozens of feet narrower than the planned BBG(X). The Navy's last true battleships, the four members of the *Iowa* class that were built during World War II and served for decades afterwards, had [full combat displacements of around 57,540 tons]() and were nearly 888 feet long. Those ships were also extremely heavily armored and at times had as many as 2,700 personnel on board. The *Trump* class ships will have a flight deck and hangar at the stern large enough to accommodate [a V-22 Osprey tiltrotor](), as well as any aircraft developed in response to [the Navy's Future Vertical Lift (FVL) requirements](). Renderings already released have also depicted [a Seahawk helicopter]() embarked on the ship. The BBG(X) design will feature 128 Mk 41 Vertical Launch System (VLS) cells spread across two separate arrays, one at the bow and another at the stern. [Nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missiles](), or SLCM-Ns, will be among the munitions loaded into those cells. The total number of Mk 41 cells is notably low for a ship of this size. As additional points of comparison, [the Navy's Flight IIA]() and [Flight III *Arleigh Burke* class destroyers]() both have 96 Mk 41 VLS cells, while there are 122 on its [*Ticonderoga* class cruisers](). ![]() *An annotated graphic highlighting various capabilities set to be found on the *Trump* class design. Note that the mention here of "28 Mk 41 VLS" cells appears to be a typo, as other official information from the US Navy says the ships will have 128 such cells. *USN via USNI News** There will also be a separate 12-cell VLS at the bow for [Intermediate-Range Conventional Prompt Strike]() (IRCPS) hypersonic missiles. This is the same number of [IRCPS missiles the Navy's *Zumwalt* class]() stealth destroyers are set to carry in the future. The ship's main gun armament will consist of a 32-megajoule electromagnetic railgun along with two 5-inch naval guns. How the Navy will source the railgun is unclear. The service halted its most recent work on naval railguns, at least publicly, [in the early 2020s](). The vessels will have four [Mk 38 weapon systems]() armed with 30mm automatic cannons and two [launchers for RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missiles]() (RAM) for close-in defense. Two unspecified dedicated counter-drone systems will be part of the armament package on the ships, as well. The BBG(X) plans call for two laser directed energy weapons in the 300 to 600 kilowatt power range, as well as four lower-powered AN/SEQ-4 [Optical Dazzling Interdictors]() (ODIN). As its name indicates, ODIN is a laser 'dazzler' designed primarily to blind adversarial optics, including optical seekers on incoming missiles or drones, rather than cause any kind of physical damage. ![]() *An AN/SEQ-4 ODIN laser 'dazzler' is seen here installed in front of the main superstructure of the US Navy's *Arleigh Burke* class destroyer USS *Stockdale*. *USN** In terms of other systems, NAVSEA says the BBG(X)s will feature an [AN/SPY-6(V)1 Air and Missile Defense Radar]() (AMDR), an AN/SLQ-32(V)7 Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program [(SEWIP) Block III]() electronic warfare suite, and an extensive array of command and control capabilities. Between 650 and 850 personnel are expected to be necessary to crew the BBG(X)s, far more than the standard complement found on any existing Navy destroyers or cruisers. "Like the initial DDG(X) concept, *Defiant* would use gas turbines and diesels to drive an electrical grid that would supply power to the ship’s weapon systems and sensors, according to the Navy data," [*USNI News* has reported](). As [*TWZ* has previously reported](), work already done on the planned Integrated Power System (IPS) for DDG(X) has leveraged technology developed to meet the [extensive power generation demands of the Navy's *Zumwalt* class](). As [*TWZ* highlighted yesterday](), there are major questions about the *Trump* class warship plan, including how much the ships might cost to produce, as well as operate and maintain. Though the Navy has yet to share an official figure, there have been reports already offering a very wide range of estimates for [basic unit costs from $5]() to [$15 billion](). The future DDG(X) destroyers had been expected to cost the service between $3.3 and $4.4 billion. As another point of reference, the price tag of each of the Navy's *Zumwalt* class destroyers has ballooned to more than $10 billion, which factors in research and development costs, [per the Government Accountability Office]() (GAO). It is also worth noting that the *Zumwalt* program's cost growth is in large part due to the decision to slash purchases of those ships from 32 down to three. ![]() *The US Navy's *Zumwalt* class destroyer USS *Michael Monsoor* seen taking part in an exercise in 2021. *USN** The operational relevance of a ship like the BBG(X), especially if the total fleet size ends up being relatively small, [is quickly becoming]() a [topic of heated debate](). As [*TWZ* wrote previously](): *"At the same time, what capabilities the* Trump *class might truly be able to bring to bear will be dependent on a host of factors, especially if they are only ever fielded in relatively smaller numbers. And regardless of how capable any warship is, it can only ever be in one place at one time, which is more often than not in port."* *"This all comes at a time when the Navy is stressing its glaring [need for more surface warships, overall,]() not super capable ones built in small quantities."* *"On the other hand, there are concerning VLS cell gaps that are fast approaching on the horizon. The service is set to retire the [last of its Ticonderoga class cruisers](), each one of which has 122 VLS cells, at the end of the decade. The Navy will also need to make up for the impending loss of the huge missile launch capacity offered by its [four ]()*[Ohio]()*[ class nuclear guided missile submarines](), which [are also set to be decommissioned]() before 2030. The Trump class will clearly feature a massive set of VLS arrays that could help offset some of this deficit."* The capacity of America's shipbuilding industrial base to support the *Trump* class plans in addition to its current demands, something that [has become increasingly concerning]() from [a national security perspective]() in recent years, [is another open question](). The expected sole-source contracts to Bath Iron Works and HII underscore that those are the only two companies in the United States with any real experience producing large-displacement surface warships of any kind. Given the timeline laid out now, the *Trump* class will have to survive multiple presidential administrations and congresses, too. The program could well see significant changes, or even be canceled, even before a single piece of steel is laid down, but still after billions are spent in development costs. By its own admission, the Navy is still very much in the early stages of work on the *Trump* class. With the construction of the future USS *Defiant* not expected to even begin until the early 2030s, the planned fleet of these warships looks to be very far out on the horizon. *Contact the author: joe@twz.com* ## Author Joseph is *TWZ’s* Deputy Editor, helping to oversee the site’s highly experienced and dedicated team, while also writing informative and impactful defense and national security content. He lives right in the thick of it in the Washington, D.C. area. ### Author social links [Twitter]() [Bluesky]()