The Trump-Class Battleship Will Be Pricey

Historically, the behemoth battleship was a juggernaut. However, after World War II, the operational utility of the huge warship with its sixteen-inch guns seemed anachronistic. US Navy warships needed to be faster and equipped with more accurate and deadly missiles. Furthermore, the upkeep on the existing battleships was becoming prohibitively expensive. The juice just simply wasn’t worth the squeeze. Now, President Trump is pushing to have the nuclear Trump-class battleship in the US Navy’s fleet of warships.

The Trump-Class Battleship Is Not a New Idea

Resurrecting the concept of a US Navy battleship is not new. President Ronald Reagan, as part of his goal of attaining a 600-ship navy, renovated and recommissioned four Iowa-class battleships: the USS New Jersey, the USS Iowa, the USS Missouri, and the USS Wisconsin. To give these World War II warships modern capability, each was upgraded with Tomahawk cruise missiles and Harpoon anti-ship missiles, as well as Phalanx Close-in Weapon Systems Gatling guns. Each was equipped with modern electronics while retaining its sixteen-inch guns. All four battleships served into the early 1990s, through the end of the Cold War, when such enormous and costly firepower was deemed no longer needed or sustainable.

Free with the Daily Briefing

85Essays

Unravel the Constitution

Hamilton, Madison & Jay’s complete case for America, free and searchable in the Publius Reader.

Join Free & Read

Free with the Daily Briefing. Unsubscribe anytime.

However, times have changed. At President Trump’s urging, the US Navy has determined that a battleship, designated BBGN (Battleship, Guided Missile, Nuclear Powered), carrying predominantly anti-ship and ship-to-shore missiles with significant self-defense capability, is what modern naval warfare will require. Meeting this requirement, however, will be a pricey undertaking. According to the latest analysis by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the 15 Trump-class battleships in the US Navy’s 30-year shipbuilding budget will come with quite the price tag. “The total cost of the Navy’s new nuclear-powered battleship program would be about $275 billion (in 2026 dollars) over the 2027–2056 period. The first ship would cost about $23 billion. For the 15 ships that would be purchased through 2056, the cost would average slightly more than $18 billion per ship.” 

Historically, the per-hull cost diminishes as more ships in any given style are built, thanks to learning-curve efficiencies. The CBO did not publish a hull-by-hull breakout of the acquisition costs. For comparison, the report explained, “CBO estimates that future Ford-class ships under the Navy’s 2027 shipbuilding plan would cost about $22 billion each.” To be clear, this is not a one-for-one comparison since an aircraft carrier and a battleship are vastly different warships, but it does reveal how much the Navy is willing to invest to achieve competitive warfighting capability. The first ship will be named the USS Defiant.

In terms of dimensions and performance, the Trump-class battleship will be 840-880 feet long, displace 35,000 tons or more, and be capable of a sustained speed of more than 30 knots (34.5 MPH). The armament envisioned for the Trump-class BBGN is impressive. Currently, the design is for the battleship to carry 128 Mark 41 vertical launching system cells. Additionally, the vessel would carry launchers for hypersonic Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) missiles. Global Defense News reported: “The Trump-class is expected to employ an advanced integrated combat system capable of supporting air and missile defense, surface warfare, long-range strike and networked fleet operations.” It will also “incorporate aviation facilities capable of supporting helicopters and unmanned aerial systems for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, anti-submarine warfare, targeting, logistics and other maritime missions.”

As the CBO describes the ship, if built to current specifications, it will be the world's largest surface combatant. “Other elements would include large lasers, a rail gun, and a variety of defensive systems such as guns, smaller missiles, decoys, and optical dazzlers intended to counter and disrupt unmanned aerial systems,” the CBO reports. The BBGN will also be capable of launching nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missiles, or SLCM-N.

Can America Support It?

Building the 15 BBGNs will be an immense undertaking, and there is the rub. Does the US have the shipbuilding industrial base to build the battleships? Again, from Global Defense News: 

“Newport News is the only US yard certified to construct new nuclear-powered surface ships, while Bath and Ingalls have the facilities and surface combatant experience needed to fabricate large hull sections but lack nuclear construction certification. Final assembly is expected in Dock 12, the same facility used to assemble Ford-class aircraft carriers, creating direct competition for dry-dock time, nuclear-qualified welders, electricians, pipefitters, naval architects, heavy-lift capacity and quality-assurance personnel.”

In addition to not having adequate shipbuilding facilities, the US Navy has a deplorable record of turning out warships on time and on budget. Hopefully, building the USS Defiant will be different.

To meet the demands of future naval warfare, particularly with the Chinese, capability multipliers will be necessary. The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) currently has 370 battle force/major combat ships and is expected to have 435 by 2030. The US Navy has fewer than 300 and is unlikely to increase significantly to meet the PLAN challenge in sheer numbers of combat vessels. Adding the Trump-class battleship to the US Navy inventory as a formidable missile platform will go a long way toward evening the odds with the PLAN. However, the number of naval vessels does make a difference. 

~

The views expressed are those of the author and not of any other affiliate.