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Trump-class battleships could come with a $275 billion price tag
CNN • • nation
Key Points:
- The Trump administration's plan to build 15 nuclear-powered "Trump-class" battleships will cost approximately $275 billion, with each ship priced over $18 billion, rivaling the cost of the Navy’s Ford-class supercarriers.
- The battleship program will significantly increase the Navy's surface combatant procurement budget from $11 billion in 2025 to $18 billion in 2027, driven by the high costs of these vessels.
- US shipyards may lack the capacity and experience to build these large nuclear-powered ships, as current shipbuilders face delays and cost overruns with smaller destroyers, and only Newport News Shipbuilding can handle nuclear-powered vessels.
- The construction of a new class of battleships presents a steep learning curve, likely causing further delays and increased costs, while also potentially impacting existing shipbuilding programs.
- Analysts question the strategic value of investing heavily in large battleships amid evolving naval warfare technologies like drones, hypersonic missiles, and cyberweapons, which favor more distributed and less vulnerable platforms.
