Trump class: only 122 cells? YES
To recap, the last US battleships were withdrawn from service in 1992, but apart from modernization and the shots fired in the wars against Iraq and Vietnam, they had in fact been out of service since the Korean War.
Considering that there is now no difference in size, displacement, and armament between cruisers and destroyers (or simply “destroyers”), the main US surface combatants remain the Ticonderoga, 122 cells, and Arleigh Burke Flight III, 96 cells, both weighing around 10,000 tons. Added to these are the three 16,000-ton Zumwalts with 80 cells, to which four launchers for three Intermediate-Range Conventional Prompt Strike hypersonic missiles each have been added.
Russia has at least one modernized Kirov, 28,000 tons and 176 cells. The main and most modern Chinese class is the Type 55, in service since 2020, which displaces 13,000 tons and has 112 cells (to which 24 cells for short-range defense must be added).
And the Trump class? It will have 35,000-ton units 260 meters long. However, the missile armament will be 128 cells (only six more than a Ticonderoga), plus four wells for 12 hypersonic missiles similar to those being installed on the Zumwalts. These hypersonic missiles would officially restore nuclear capabilities to the US Navy’s surface units, as the US Navy currently does not have nuclear weapons even for its Hornet fighter-bombers.
From a missile perspective, the Trump class is therefore undersized compared to its expected displacement.
The railgun
On the other hand, the Trump class would be more versatile in terms of its onboard artillery because, as Trump pointed out in September, shells cost less than missiles. No large-caliber conventional guns are planned, only a pair of 127 mm guns.
The armament would be supplemented by a 32 MegaJoule railgun. This is a weapon that accelerates a projectile through a powerful electromagnetic field. The projectiles therefore do not need an explosive charge to be fired. The kinetic energy imparted is such that it propels the warhead to hypersonic speeds and consequently achieves results on the target equal to those of a warhead with conventional explosives of equal weight carried by a missile, but at a much lower cost. A model tested by the US Navy aims for a range of 370 km with a shot error of just 5 meters and a firing rate of 10 shots per minute. However, several technical problems remain that keep these weapons on the experimental bench, first and foremost the wear and tear on the rails caused by the stresses produced by the acceleration of the projectile.
Currently, only Japan seems close to the operational use of a railgun. A 40 mm railgun was installed on the JS Asuka (ASE-6102), a frigate for experimental use, which hit a target in sea trials in July 2025. Italy also has its own program, called Herakles.
The US Navy collaborated with the British company BAE Systems to build a 32 MJ prototype (like the one in the Trump class) at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren in 2012. Officially, funding was terminated in 2021 due to insurmountable problems with barrel wear. So much so that the installation of 32 MJ railguns on the Zumwalts was considered, but in the end, it was decided to install hypersonic wells instead.
The laser
Another valuable feature of the Trump class would be two turrets with heavy 300 kW or 600 kW lasers (to which four ODIN-type light lasers would be added, a dazzler system for anti-drone defense).
The US Navy installed a 60 kW HELIOS (High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance) laser on the Arleigh Burke Flight IIA destroyer USS Preble (DDG-88), which successfully shot down a target drone in 2024 and a series of four drones in 2025, again under test conditions.
The problem is that the Arleigh Burkes do not have enough power generation capacity to run it alongside all their radar systems. HELIOS was preceded by another 30 kW system that was installed experimentally in 2014 on the Austin-class amphibious transport USS Ponce (AFSB-15) and then on the USS Portland (LPD-27), an Austin-class amphibious transport, from which it was subsequently removed.
The United States certainly has other laser system projects, and despite the difficulties of fine-tuning (beam dispersion and targeting problems), heavy lasers are one step away from mass implementation. As early as February 2010, the US Air Force managed to intercept a ballistic missile with a heavy laser of still classified power installed on a modified 747 designated YAL-1, but the program was soon abandoned.
China showed off its LY-1 heavy lasers during the Victory Day parade in September 2025. Russia is said to have a handful of Peresvet systems in service, but there is no evidence of any successes. The UK has developed the DragonFire laser, which was rumored to be deployed in Ukraine and is expected to be deployed on Royal Navy units starting in 2027. Finally, there is the Israeli Iron Beam, a variant or prototype of which was used in October 2024 to intercept Hezbollah drones.
The command ship hypothesis
Not just weapon systems: the Trump class is also intended to be a command and control platform, supervising manned and unmanned units. It will therefore become the nerve center of a naval and air-naval group command.
The role of command ship for the Trump classes could explain the apparent enthusiasm of the US Navy in indulging the presidential dream for the new battleship. In fact, there is another box to fill in the US Navy’s inventory, that of the two Blue Ridge-class amphibious command ships – USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19) and USS Mount Whitney (LCC-20) , which entered service in 1970 and 1971. These air and sea command centers are derived from the Iwo Jima class amphibious assault ships, which at the time boasted a superior electronic suite to that of contemporary aircraft carriers. These units are still the flagships of the Sixth Fleet, based in the Mediterranean, and the Seventh Fleet in the Pacific. Little is known about the role of the two units, but they are expected to remain in service throughout the 2030s. In short, as Craig Hooper points out in Forbes, it is very likely that the first Trump-class units will still be useful, albeit perhaps in a different role than imagined.
Incidentally, the Soviets themselves converted a Kirov-class hull into the SSV-33 Ural, a nuclear-powered command and electronic warfare ship.
ClassTrump, conventional propulsion
The problem is that railguns, heavy lasers, radars, and electronic suites make the future USS Defiant (BGG-1) an extremely energy-intensive ship. However, it appears that propulsion will be conventional, of the integrated electric type: diesel engines and gas turbines generating electricity for on-board systems and electric motors for propulsion.
This choice goes against the global trend of reevaluating naval nuclear propulsion, as seen at the conference promoted by the Machiavelli Foundation last year.
The embarked component
The last aspect to consider on the Trump class is the embarked component. There is space for helicopters and tiltrotors, but no mention of systems for medium and heavy drones.
This possible shortcoming makes the USS Defiant (BBG-1) a valid potential technology demonstrator. However, it raises doubts about its usefulness if produced on a large scale, as intended and desired by the 46th president. Trump has planned to build two of them within two and a half years, although their construction cannot reasonably begin before the 2030s. His plan would involve ten Trump-class units, hopefully increasing to 20-25 units.
Industrial unknowns
Many analysts consider the program’s feasibility to be remote. The Center for Strategic and International Studies headlines The Golden Fleet’s Battleship Will Never Sail. They insist both on the much higher costs of these units compared to the DDG(X) and the Arleigh Burke, and on the fact that the Trump class, with their size, would go against what was becoming the doctrine of the US Navy. That is, a distributed model of the firepower of the various units, also for greater resilience against the wide range of anti-ship missiles available to Beijing.
Although, when it comes to Trump, the budget may not be an issue: after the recent call to increase the Pentagon’s budget from $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion, even if it has stopped at “only” $839 billion for 2026.
Industrial constraints are more stringent, given that the two main US military shipbuilding groups (the only ones that could be involved in units as large as the Trump) Bath Iron Works and Huntington Ingalls Industries have experienced several delivery delays in recent years. In particular, the entry into service of the new aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) has been postponed from 2025 to late 2027.
There is a risk that the Golden Fleet, in addition to not setting sail, could sink the Navy, as CNN, never kind to Trump, headlines: Trump’s new battleship plan could transform the US Navy – or sink it.
Transforming the US Navy for the better, thus making the new units a source of pride on an industrial level even before a strategic one. Or sinking it altogether, with yet another ‘new class of ship’ that will come to nothing after burning through tens of millions of dollars.
The Chinese response
And when it comes to distributing firepower while keeping costs low, China has proven itself once again, updating an idea that, like the battleships Trump dreams of, dates back to the two world wars.
These are armed merchant ships, or as they were classified at the time, auxiliary cruisers. In January 2026, two “small container ships” converted into “armed merchant ships” appeared on the Chinese internet.
The first was equipped with 60 VLS cells mounted in standard containers on the deck, with the addition of radar containers and short-range air defense system containers. The second was converted into a UAV carrier thanks to a modular electromagnetic catapult mounted on four trucks fixed to the deck of the merchant ship.
These are two “makeshift” solutions compared to the Golden Fleet dreamed up by Trump, but certainly more scalable given China’s industrial power in the merchant navy.
We will see if Trump manages to launch his battleships, and if, in addition to being a great real estate developer and president, he will be remembered as a sort of 21st-century Vittorio Cuniberti. [End, the first two episodes were published HERE and HERE]
Illustration: U.S. Navy – https://www.goldenfleet.navy.mil/
