President unveils new 'Trump class' fleet of battleships

[moonshinegnomie]

Source: cnn

President Donald Trump unveiled a new “Trump class” of Navy battleships Monday, describing them as a superior war fighting vessel to replace an “old and tired and obsolete” US fleet.

“They’ll help maintain American military supremacy, revive the American ship building industry, and inspire fear in America’s enemies all over the world,” Trump said in revealing the new category of vessel from the library at Mar-a-Lago.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/22/politics/trump-shipbuilding-venezuela-tensions

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a waste of billions of dollars. and another reason to slash the defense budget

[JBTaurus83]

1. This Asshole

Burns through money faster than anyone I’ve seen.

[Beartracks]

7. It's why he's had so many bankruptcies.

[travelingthrulife]

54. Puppy Killer and Kash seem to be wasting money pretty well.

Puppy Killer ran through her entire budget in the first month or two.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Billions? Hundreds of Billions more like it

This is just another delusion. It will pass.

[31st Street Bridge]

3. Do they have bone spurs?

Just a guess.

[chouchou]

44. Good one!

[Srkdqltr]

4. Who is building these? Are there plans? 🤔

[AverageOldGuy]

5. The American shipbuilding industry is on life support and cannot produce these ships . . . or any other ship

https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/why-cant-the-us-build-ships

Year End Orders for Large Oceangoing Ships
Number of ships.

Shipbuilder 2022 2021 2020

China 1,794 1,708 1,216
South Korea 734 626 441
Japan 587 612 533
Europe 319 288 284
United States 5 3 4

Trump is an idiot. I can hear the groans from the Navy, especially after Hogsbreath announces that, yes, the Navy will build battleships.
Battleships went the way of dinosaurs with the introduction of the carrier -- the battleship is nothing but a target today.

Even if the Navy decides to go this route, and if Congress agrees, it will be ten years before the first keel is laid and another 5-7 years before the first is launched. Never happen.

[Srkdqltr]

9. Yes, thats what i thought.

[Shipwack]

34. All surface ships are targets, now more than ever.

The world’s militaries are failing to learn from the lessons of the Malvinas (Falklands) war, and from the current Ukraine conflict.

Submariner boasting aside, in the past couple of years we have seen how a few tens of thousands dollars worth of drones can destroy warships that cost in the 100s of millions. In the Falklands (about 40 years ago) Great Britain learned that a minor military power (Argentina) could destroy the UK’s best ships.* The only reason they didn’t lose their carrier to an (undetected) Argentinian submarine was because of a torpedo tube malfunction.

Submarines are not quite obsolete yet, but it is only a matter of time before underwater drone technology catches up.

*To be accurate , part of the reason for the UK’s losses were due to completely idiotic communication procedures that required all ships to simultaneously turn off their early warning radars in order to transmit/receive message traffic. Still, everyone was surprised how effective land based anti-ship missiles were.

[CapnSteve]

48. 15 years? So, Dementia Donnie will be 94, out of office...

...with all the stains he left on our country carefully scrubbed away. Works for me...

More vanity, more corruption, more distraction from his pedo past.

[Beartracks]

8. In 2 weeks.

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. He's co-designing them himself. That really is what he said.

Because he's a "very aesthetic person".

[ms liberty]

61. As soon as I get through laughing hysterically I'll be having a nice barf.

He really is too too much.

[orangecrush]

51. Russia

[Klarkashton]

6. The Reagan administration was building unnecessary

Battle ships too. The hangover from all that shit was horrible.

[Shipwack]

36. Not building, but taking out of storage, no?

That’s how I remember it, anyway.

There was an argument to be made at the time (and to a lesser extent today) that battleships had a role in laying down suppressing fire prior to a beach landing. Missiles are expensive and have a limited area of effect. Modern shipboard guns are fewer in number and lack the necessary “oomph”. The Army and Marines complained that getting air support from the Air Force or Navy was difficult.

There are various fantasy plans for retrofitting existing* battleships. Replacing their boilers with nuclear reactors would not only make them the fastest surface ships ever built, but free up room for supplies and ammo. Redesigned munitions for the 16” guns would give them longer range and would be immune to anti- missile technology.

What Reagan and the Republicans did screw up was planning a 700 ship Navy. This massive expansion was going to require a lot more sailors to be recruited far ahead of time. When that plan was scrapped, there was a glut of sailors with no place to put them. This screwed up advancement, and required both voluntary and involuntary separations. This screwed up the Navy for years.

By the way, please don’t think I am advocating for a bigger military or Navy. I agree with Eisenhower that we have a choice between guns or butter, and we have way more guns than necessary.

[thought crime]

40. Yes, they took WW II Iowa class Battleships out of mothballs

They were obsolete and ready to become museum ships.

[maxrandb]

62. Ask the USS IOWA (BB-61) how that worked out

BTW -I served on USS IOWA shortly after it was re-commissioned. Wasn't on board for the Turret 2 accident, but I knew almost all of the 47 Sailors that died that day.

USS Iowa turret explosion - Wikipedia https://share.google/A0Tx96IeUFSefTRM1

[thought crime]

66. That was a horrible event.

I'm sorry for your shipmates.

[Klarkashton]

42. I recall that they built new ones. It was a big deal at the time.

I haven't the time to look it up now.

[yaesu]

45. To be fair the tRump class will be AI controlled making it unsinkable

because no matter how many hits it takes it will demand a recount and refuse to sink.

[Aristus]

59. No. The Iowa-class battleships were the last battleships the United States ever put to sea.

The Royal Navy's HMS Vanguard was the very last battleship ever completed and put into service. It was commissioned in 1946 and scrapped in 1960.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

11. So Dipshit is designing ships now

The USS Trumptanic

[Kid Berwyn]

13. LMAO.

In a long winded and totally demented confabulation with some admiral he was talking with, Marshall Vladimir Bonespurs talked up how our fleet as ugly and the Navy should “bring back” the big beautiful battleship. True story. He’ll do anything to distract from his treasons, evil, perversions and historic criminality. So, yeah, go ahead and launch the USS Epstein Island, wingman.

[love_katz]

25. DUzy!

USS Epstein Island

[Fiendish Thingy]

14. They will never be built. Nt

[Dulcinea]

53. Thankfully the Fascist Felon will be dead before any of this sees the light of day.

The USS Captain Bonespurs? The USS Epstein?

[cab67]

15. Actual battleships?

Not warships in general? Battleships? The ones that became obsolete for anything but shore bombardment once aircraft carriers were a thing? The ones whose role was restricted once the Mahan Doctrine (single massive engagement between navies) was made irrelevant by naval air power?

They were certainly effective at shore bombardment - they were used for that until the Gulf War in 1991 - but unless we plan to bombard a bunch of shores in the near future, this is a vanity project that will hopefully be cancelled in the near future.

And if - which I find highly unlikely - a warship is ever named after Old Colostomy, the name will be a curse. I'd be surprised if it didn't sink minutes after being launched.

[Strelnikov_]

19. "In the age of relatively inexpensive microprocessor

guided solid fuel rockets, anything above surface will last about 24 hours.”

Quote from a couple decades ago.

With modern military drones, the outlook for surface ships has not improved. Consider the fate of the Black Sea fleet.

[sarisataka]

26. No, they appear to be oversize guided missile cruisers

Think of the Soviet Kirov class battlecruisers

[calimary]

16. Just another way to get his damn name out there in public.

When do the “Trump Enema” packs come out?

[Hey Joe]

60. They are already on sale at the Trump store

A six pack will cost you $39.99.
Seen them advertised on Fox Snooze.

[Akakoji]

17. What an Asshole

Seriously. Is he gifting them to Argentina or Russia?

[Orrex]

18. Gosh. Which hostile foreign power to whom Trump is indebted would benefit from this?

Hobbling our Navy with a fleet of obsolete deadweight? Can't imagine which superpower nation would stand to gain.

[Polybius]

38. Well, officially we're the world's only superpower n/t

[Bayard]

20. First of all,

I am astounded that Mar-a-Lardo has a library.

Second, what is going to get cut from the budget so these magic ships can be built?

[reACTIONary]

21. Trump Class? Trump....

...has no class.

[Justice matters.]

43. pedo the felon has the "bone-spurs deferments" class

and no shame.

[Paladin]

49. Thanks for beating me to it.

"Trump" and "class" is the biggest contradiction in terms ever.

[ALBliberal]

22. He's so good at putting down our military. And smearing

over it with gold paint. Asshole.

Making it seem like the military artillery tanks ships etc as well as personnel were not up to standard “before” he took office.

Hate him with the heat of 1000 suns.

[reACTIONary]

23. Umm, sir, gold leaf...

Flanked by renderings of the “Trump class” battleships at sea, Trump said he would take an active role in their design.

Umm, sir, gold leaf highly reflects radar.

[Escape]

24. Not long before the good old USA becomes...

TRUMPLAND...

[reACTIONary]

27. It is questionable .....

..... whether the vessel itself ever would be built

From the WaPo article about the announcement:

Mark Cancian, a senior adviser in the defense and security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. He questioned whether the vessel itself ever would be built, noting that its significant size will saddle the battleship with similar limitations and vulnerabilities as the nation’s other large warships. The Navy for decades has emphasized a smaller and distributed fleet as a way to counter evolving technologies such as drone warfare.

“There’s going to be a lot of ink spilled over this ship — but this ship is never going to sail,” Cancian predicted. “It’s going to take four, five, six years to develop a ship this large that is so unlike current designs.”

Paywall free, but you may need to register your email: https://wapo.st/498cQ7U

[hadEnuf]

28. Hey America

Is it time to pull this psychotic clown out of office yet?

[RetiredParatrooper]

29. 30,000 to 40,000 tons?

So smaller than the NC, SD and IA classes, as well as......

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamato-class_battleship

[Jack Valentino]

30. The Battleship became obsolete on December 7th, 1941, but that fact seems to have escaped

Trump's notice.... Now he's planning to build battleships bigger than the Yamato and Musashi?


Let's buy him some toy boats for his bathtub and call it good.
We can spray-paint them golden if he insists.

[Gore1FL]

33. I'm not sure that's totally true, especially in shore bombardment, but carriers had become much more important by then.

Japan not knowing where the U.S. carriers were saved a lot of ships that day.

[Buddyzbuddy]

31. Cost overruns will be tenfold and it will sink at it's christening.

The first ship.

[MissouriDem47]

32. Battleships were obsolete during WWII

[oasis]

35. Battle this mofo🖕🏼

[Shipwack]

37. I was sure that this was an article from The Onion. nt

[JohnnyRingo]

39. The way the navy does it is the class is named for the christened name of the 1st ship.

Nuclear attack subs are Ohio Class but each subsequent boat is named after a different state.

Does this mean the following ships will be named after his family?

BTW it isn't a battleship. We don't use those any more. He has no idea what he's talking about.

[thought crime]

41. This is Trump's Vanity Project

"Our President" has found a hobby and will bring back the Battleship. His advisors and even some Navy people are astounded at the genius and strategic brilliance of this idea that somehow no Naval experts could or would ever think of. They said, "Sir, what an astounding idea!" They even let him announce it, in public, with a live microphone. This will be his Legacy. DOA in 2029.

[The Wizard]

58. "will bring back the Battleship"

in time for silkworm missiles to sink battleships and carriers at will.
I remember Trump saying he knew more about the military than flag officers.

[thought crime]

67. He is bringing chaos to the Navy. No one is saying how dangerous this could be.

[MissouriDem47]

46. Another TACO Fantasy That will never happen.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

47. Doesn't congress have to approve the expenditure? Or is this like the $40 billion Argentina

got in a process no one can explain?

What about the bidding process, design, equipment, etc.

Or is this going to be like destroying the WH East Wing, which he did because no one told he couldn't.

[orangecrush]

50. Hey D.U. Old Salts!

How you feel about that?



JFC what a shitshow.

[marble falls]

52. Batteships are dinosaurs.

[Historic NY]

55. The last battleship on battleship engagement Battle of Surigao Strait

The USS Mississippi fired the last salvos against the Japanese battleships. They deployed in the age old naval formation a "line" .They became relics after that.

Carriers and air power made them useless, unless being used for landings and bombardment.

[Torchlight]

56. Battleships are nothing more than money-traps and vanity pieces for a 21st century leader

There's a valid reason the last battlship keel layed down by American shipbuilding was in 1944.

[The Wizard]

57. Congress hasn't budgeted a dime

for Trump's latest Treasury looting.

[thought crime]

64. Trump's dream-boat will never happen.

But meanwhile he is causing complete chaos in Navy planning, and confirming the actual collapse of Naval shipbuilding. More than anything, this sends a message to China that the strategy of building up their Navy is working well. I'm sure it gave them a good laugh, too.

[Bengus81]

63. Him and Eric setting around playing Battleship to come up with nonsense?

Nah...he's never done anything with his kids except ogle his daughter and want to date her.

One sick,sick fuck.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

65. MaddowBlog-Trump names battleship class after himself, advancing his personalization crusade

Sticking his name on everything is especially difficult to defend as it so plainly does little to meet the nation’s needs.

The personalization of government is advancing at ridiculous speeds:
- Trump-class battleships
- Trump’s name added to Kennedy Center, Institute for Peace
- legal-tender coin featuring Trump’s face (on both sides)
- Trump Gold Cards
- Trump Accounts
- F-47 fighter jets
- 47-day ICE training

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-12-23T14:04:44.654Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-names-battleship-class-after-himself-advancing-his-personalization-crusade

It’s hardly a secret that Donald Trump desperately wants to apply his name to things, but the president cares nearly as much about adding the word “gold” to assorted labels. Just in the course of the past year, for example, we’ve seen him emphasize everything from “Gold Cards” to a “Golden Dome” to a “Golden Age” for the nation. (Never mind the shiny curlicues he’s slapped up all over the Oval Office.)

Once in a great while, though, the Republican finds a way to check both boxes simultaneously. My MS NOW colleague Erum Salam reported:

The United States will build new ‘Trump-class’ battleships as part of a ‘Golden Fleet,’ President Donald Trump announced Monday. […]

‘They’ll be the fastest, the biggest and by far 100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built,’ Trump said at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. He was joined by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Navy Secretary John Phelan and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

So, on the one hand, we’re talking about a fleet that joins the president’s “golden” list while, on the other, Trump is also naming a class of battleships after himself. The White House promoted illustrations of the unbuilt ships featuring an emblem that centers Trump with a raised fist — a detail that reinforces concerns that this is less about national security and more about self-aggrandizement and self-glorification on the part of the president.

Trump Class battleship illustration, as released by the White House.

— Steve Herman (@newsguy.bsky.social) 2025-12-22T22:55:14.884Z

For those keeping score, Trump and his allies have now applied his name to the Kennedy Center and the Institute of Peace, unveiled a commemorative legal-tender coin that that will feature his face on both sides and launched “Trump Gold Cards” and “Trump Accounts.” By some accounts, the president wants the upcoming White House ballroom to be named after him, too.

But wait, there’s more. Trump wants a football stadium in the nation’s capital to be named after him; the nation’s next-generation fighter jet will have an F-47 designation in honor of him (he is the nation’s 47th president); and training for incoming Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents was reduced from 50 days to 47 days for the same reason.

We are witnessing the personalization of the American government in real time, and it’s advancing at ridiculous speeds (and in ridiculous directions).....

Montgomery said the new frigate has “zero tactical use” and that officials appear to be “focused on the president’s visual that a battleship is a cool-looking ship.”

This isn’t how a global superpower is supposed to function. The administration’s plan is moving forward anyway.