Overview
- The Congressional Budget Office estimated the lead Trump‑class battleship would cost about $23 billion and a 15‑ship program roughly $275 billion, averaging about $18 billion per hull.
- CBO based its estimate on a roughly 35,000‑ton, nuclear‑energized design that it says would be the largest surface combatant in the world if built to published specifications.
- Public specifications described in the report include 128 Mark 41 vertical launch cells, four Conventional Prompt Strike hypersonic tubes, a scaled AN/SPY‑6 radar, railgun, large lasers, and counter‑UAS systems.
- The Navy has said the ship would be fitted to carry the sea‑launched nuclear cruise missile (SLCM‑N), giving it nuclear‑armed cruise‑missile capability unlike other surface ships.
- The Pentagon requested $1 billion for FY2027 advanced procurement and the Navy’s 2027 shipbuilding plan foresaw ordering the lead ship in 2028, but CBO warned its cost projections are highly uncertain and noted a conventionally powered variant would cost about 13 percent less to build.