President Trump's Battleships

By Jeff G. Gilmour, 11 January 2026

In December 2025, President Trump announced that two new battleships were to be built in the United States – what he’s calling the “Trump Class”.^[1] This announcement came despite the fact that US naval shipbuilding programs have fallen short on delivering new warships on time and on budget in recent years.

The new warship would be approximately 880 feet in length with a displacement of about 30-40,000 tons. It would be the largest surface combatant the United States has constructed since WW II. The Iowa-class battleships, such as USS Missouri, were 887 feet in length at around 58,000 tons displacement. Aside from aircraft carriers, the biggest warship in the US Navy fleet currently is the Zumwalt destroyer at 15,000 tons. It is envisioned that the new ships’ armament would include 12 cells for cruise missiles, 128 vertical launch cells for Tomahawk cruise missiles, rail guns and laser defence weapons. Currently there are no timeframes for the design and building phases for the new ships and no contractor has been identified to actually construct the battleship.

The President stated that these new battleships were intended to replace the Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyers which are the backbone of the US surface fleet and cost approximately $2B. Each of the new battleships could cost in excess of $15B.

The US Navy shipbuilding program has not been a lesson in excellence, based on-time of delivery and cost overruns. The following are a few illustrations:

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The second article, “The Strategic Utility of Aircraft Carriers in China’s Ambitions in East Asia,” discusses the rapid growth of China’s aircraft carrier capability and how and where Beijing would likely use them in the case of war. The third article is “Why Does Canada have a Navy? Reflecting on the Canadian Leaders at Sea Program.” In this article, the author addresses a simple question that was asked while he was participating in the CLaS program, and considers what a navy represents and why Canada has one. The final essay, “SS Nerissa: A Tragic Footnote to History,” tells the little-known story of the last voyage of SS Nerissa that was sunk by a U-boat while transporting troops and civilians across the Atlantic in the Second World War.

If that isn’t enough to spark your interest, we have our usual Making Waves commentaries. We have a commentary about hydrography in the Arctic. Sound boring? It’s not. If Canada is getting submarines that are expected to operate in the Arctic, Ottawa needs to act now to map the seafloor there. We have a commentary about the many historic discussions about moving the Coast Guard into the defence department. We have a commentary about the unthinkable – i.e., having naval ships that can act as ‘tripwires’ in the event that the United States decides to blockade Canada. We have an account of a conference in Australia, Canadian interest in East Asia, and preparing for Russia in the Arctic.

And, of course, we have our regular columns. “A View from the West” looks at North Korea’s increasing focus on its navy. “Dollars and Sense” examines the defence-related parts of Budget 2025, and “Warship Developments” updates us on several interesting recent naval decisions.  

In addition to all this great information, we have our usual amazing photos!

Stay tuned. In a few weeks, the issue will be in the mailbox of people who are lucky enough to be subscribers! It’s not too late for you to subscribe. See here for the Table of Contents.

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