Overview
- The Congressional Budget Office estimated on Aug. 5 that buying 15 nuclear‑powered Trump‑class battleships would cost about $275 billion with the lead ship near $23.4 billion and the remaining hulls averaging about $18 billion each.
- CBO based its estimate on the Navy’s 2027 shipbuilding plan with a 35,000‑ton nuclear design, an assumed lead order in 2028, a single yard doing final assembly, and a 2028–2056 buy schedule.
- Switching to nuclear propulsion raises procurement costs by roughly 13 percent versus a conventional design while the planned weapons suite includes partly unfielded systems such as hypersonic tubes, an electromagnetic railgun and large lasers, creating technical risk.
- The report warns U.S. shipyards lack the capacity to meet the plan and says production tonnage for large surface combatants would need to more than double by 2035, which could delay builds and force trade‑offs with carriers, destroyers and other programs.
- The estimate has sharpened congressional skepticism and public criticism as the administration seeks advance procurement and R&D funds in its FY2027 budget, and it could push annual surface‑combatant procurement needs from about $11 billion to roughly $19 billion with consequences for shipbuilders, ship crews and other Navy priorities.