President Trump has called for the construction of a “golden fleet” for the U.S. Navy, anchored by new Trump-class nuclear-powered battleships. According to an analysis published Wednesday by the Congressional Budget Office, building 15 of the new warships over the next 30 years would cost an estimated $275 billion.
The first ship, which the Trump administration says will deploy a variety of new technologies, some of which are still under development or do not yet exist, will cost about $23 billion, while the rest of the ships would cost an estimated $18 billion apiece.
CBO estimates that the first ship could take eight years or longer to build, although Trump said last year that he thinks it will take less than half that. In the meantime, Trump has altered a key specification of the ship, changing its propulsion system from gas turbine to nuclear power, thereby increasing the estimated cost of each ship by about $8 billion. Trump has also said that he wants to build as many as 25 of the battleships, and CBO estimates the cost of building the larger number at $455 billion.
Questions about battleships: Trump said he was inspired to build new battleships by “Victory at Sea,” a documentary about naval warfare in World War II that was broadcast by NBC in 1952-1953.
“I used to watch ‘Victory at Sea,’” Trump told a gathering of military leaders last year. “I love ‘Victory at Sea.’”
Some military experts have questioned the desirability of building battleships, which many naval experts see as an outdated military technology. The United States hasn’t laid down a new battleship since 1944, during World War II.
However, the new battleships would be quite different from the 1940s version, at least in terms of technology. The Navy’s shipbuilding plan calls for a massive ship with a displacement of 35,000 tons or more, stretching upwards of 880 feet in length, capable of cruising at more than 30 knots, with missiles and lasers instead of conventional guns as the main weapons.
“The battleship’s main battery would include missile cells for antiship, antiair, and land-attack missiles and, presumably, the ship’s nuclear cruise missiles; it would also include launchers for hypersonic Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) missiles,” CBO says. “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.”
Some of those technologies may not yet exist in 2028, when the first ship is scheduled to start construction, CBO noted. In that case, CBO says “the Navy could still build the ship, reserving space and power for their later installation.”
Uncertainty for the fleet: Given its enormous expense and industrial and design requirements, it’s not clear that Trump’s “golden fleet,” which also includes new destroyers and frigates, will ever be built. And since the Trump battleship is the furthest away from an executable design, it may be the least likely to actually hit the waves or get anywhere close. The drive to develop it, though, could still be very costly. As CBO notes, “Shipbuilding programs that start before a ship’s design is well defined often encounter serious cost growth and delays.”
There are certainly budgetary concerns about the new Trump battleship. Sen. Jeff Merkley, the senior Democrat on the Budget Committee who requested the CBO analysis, questioned the cost of the program.
“At a time when families are struggling to afford groceries, gas, health care and child care, Congress cannot throw hundreds of billions of dollars at Trump’s ‘Golden Fleet,’ including plastering his name across a new battleship,” Merkley said in a statement. “While we continue to see too many Pentagon programs burdened by cost overruns, delays, and unrealistic promises that fail to meet reality, Congress cannot afford to commit to another massive military boondoggle that will only succeed in filling the coffers of the military-industrial complex.”
Merkley said he would push to eliminate the project.