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USS Defiant to lead Trump's 'Golden Fleet' as new class of battleships announced
President Trump is launching a Golden Fleet for the Navy, featuring new battleships seeking to modernise the fleet and bolster American military strength
President Donald Trump is moving forward with a high-profile naval initiative to create a “Golden Fleet” with the introduction of a new “battleship.”
"We're calling it the Golden Fleet that we're building for the United States Navy. As you know, we're desperately in need of ships. Our ships are some of them have gotten old and tired and obsolete," Trump said.
The fleet would include up to 50 support ships and a new, huge "surface combatant class" of ship, according to retired Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, who is now a senior director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
The Wall Street Journal stated, citing a source, that the first vessel in the fleet will be called USS Defiant and that the new class of battleships will be called the "Trump-class."
Read more: What time is Trump's announcement with Pete Hegseth and John Phelan today?
Battleships for the Golden Fleet vision
The word "battleship" has been used to describe a particular kind of ship: a large, heavily armored vessel equipped with enormous guns intended to shell targets on land or other ships.
During World War II, this kind of ship was at its height of popularity. The Iowa-class battleships that were modernised in the1980s, which were the biggest in the United States, weighed about 60,000 tons.
Currently, there are 74 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers in service. These were built in the 1980's and have a variety of uses, such as air defense, aircraft carrier escort, and Tomahawk cruise missile launch pads.
Trump made an unsuccessful push during his first term to go back from the more advanced electromagnetic method to steam-powered catapults for launching jets from the Navy's newest aircraft carriers.
When Trump visited a shipyard in 2020 that was developing the now-canceled Constellation-class frigate, he claimed to have personally altered the ship's design.
Trump stated at the time, "I looked at it and said, 'That's a terrible-looking ship, let's make it beautiful."
Read more: Trump holds an event with Rubio and Hegseth during vacation as tensions with Venezuela mount
Now, the special announcement is being made a month after the abandonment of the Navy's plan to construct a new, tiny battleship due to mounting delays and cost overruns, opting instead to use a modified Coast Guard cutter that had been in production until recently.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Navy Secretary John Phelan, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will join Trump for what the White House is calling a "major announcement."
Trump said, “They'll help maintain American military supremacy, revive the American shipbuilding industry, and inspire fear in America's enemies all over the world.”
