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Donald Trump has announced plans to build a huge fleet of heavily-armed ‘Trump-class’ battleships for the US Navy.
The US President said the new ‘Golden Fleet’ will be armed with hypersonic missiles, nuclear cruise missiles, rail guns and high-powered lasers.
During the announcement at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump claimed: ‘They’ll be the fastest, the biggest and by far 100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built.’
According to Trump, construction of the first ship, to be named the USS Defiant, is expected to begin soon.
He said the first vessels will be operational in two-and-a-half years.
However, a source told The Associated Press that while design efforts are underway, construction will begin in the early 2030s.
The US President added that the battleship will be longer and larger than the World War II-era Iowa-class battleships.
He criticised some ships as being ‘old’, ‘tired’ and ‘obsolete’.
According to a new website for the ‘Golden Fleet’, the ‘guided missile battleship’ will be around the same size as the Iowa-class battleships – but weigh only half as much at 35,000 tonnes.
The ‘Trump-class’ vessels will also have smaller crews of between 650 and 850 sailors and their primary weapons will be missiles rather than large naval guns.
The US President said he will have a direct role in the design of the new vessel as well.
He said: ‘The US Navy will lead the design of these ships along with me, because I’m a very aesthetic person.’
According to US Navy Secretary John Phelan, the USS Defiant ‘will inspire awe and reverence for the American flag whenever it pulls into a foreign port’.
Trump’s announcement comes just a month after the US Navy scrapped plans to build a new, small warship.
The military department cited growing delays and cost overruns, deciding instead to go with a modified version of a Coast Guard cutter.
Coast Guard cutters are US Coat Guard-commissioned vessels measuring at least 65 feet in length but often much more, that often accommodate helicopter landing pads and live-aboard crews.
The US Navy has also failed to build its other newly designed ships, such as the new Ford-class aircraft carrier and Columbia-class submarines, on time and on budget.
And it has struggled to field some of the technologies Trump has claimed will be aboard the new ship.
The US Navy spent hundreds of millions of dollars and more than 15 years trying to field a railgun aboard a ship before finally abandoning the effort in 2021.
Railguns use electromagnetic force to launch high-velocity projectiles.
Laser technology has seen more success in making its way onto Navy ships in recent years – but its use is still limited.
One system that is designed to blind or disable drone sensors is now aboard eight destroyers after spending eight years in development.
Developing nuclear cruise missile capabilities or deploying them on ships may also violate non-proliferation treaties that the US has signed with Russia.
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