Overview
- At a Mar-a-Lago press conference, Trump said the ships would be the largest ever built and described them as the centerpiece of a broader naval expansion he calls the Golden Fleet.
- Sky News Arabia reporting on the plan cites specifications of roughly 30,000–40,000 tons displacement, about 880 feet in length, and crews of 650–850 enabled by greater automation.
- Trump said the first two ships would be built in about two and a half years, with an initial batch of 10 and a long-term goal of 20–25, and he plans to meet defense firms next week to accelerate timelines.
- The ships were described as carrying Tomahawk cruise missiles, hypersonic weapons, electric guns, directed-energy lasers, conventional 5-inch guns, and large vertical launch arrays, with reports noting a surface-ship nuclear capability not seen since the Cold War.
- The announcement followed congressional approval of a defense budget exceeding $900 billion and came days after the U.S. Navy disclosed a separate small-warship project labeled FF(X) with a first ship targeted for 2028.