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US President Donald Trump on Monday announced a new class of heavily armed warships that will be named after himself, an honour usually reserved for leaders who have left office.
Two of the Trump-class ships will be built initially, but that number could grow substantially, according to the president, who said they will be “some of the most lethal surface warfare ships” and “the largest battleship in the history of our country.”
Trump announced at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida alongside Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Navy Secretary John Phelan, with images of the planned high-tech vessels on stands nearby.
Asked if the planned warships are a counter to Washington’s rival Beijing, Trump declined to specify, instead saying: “It’s a counter to everybody, it’s not China. We get along great with China.”
He said the ships will weigh between 30,000 and 40,000 tons and will be armed with missiles and guns as well as weaponry still in development, such as lasers and hypersonic missiles. They will also be capable of carrying atomic weapons in the form of the nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile, Trump said.
The Trump-class ships will be substantially larger than existing US destroyers and cruisers, but the projected displacement cited by the president is somewhat smaller than that of the last American battleships, the Iowa class, which were retired in the 1990s.
Trump, who has previously complained about the appearance of US ships, said he would be involved in the design, along with the Navy, “because I’m a very aesthetic person.”
Trump’s announcement came just days after the Navy publicised plans for another new class of frigates dubbed the FF(X) that it said will “complement the fleet’s larger, multi-mission warships.”
Washington has fallen significantly behind Beijing in the number of ships in its Navy, and a report to Congress earlier this year noted that US military officials and other observers are concerned about the pace of China’s shipbuilding efforts.
