(From Livestream of announcement)
- Chis Kastner, HII president and CEO, said shipbuilders at Ingalls and Newport News are committed to continuing their work in lock step with the Navy to expand the U.S. Fleet.
A new class of American-designed battleships was announced on Monday by President Donald Trump (R).
Speaking alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Secretary of the Navy John Phelan, the president said the new “Trump class” battleships will be the most lethal surface combatant ever constructed.
“They’ll help maintain American military supremacy, revive the American shipbuilding industry and inspire fear in America’s enemies all over the world,” President Trump said at the announcement of the new warships while in Florida.
The Navy said the new battleships will stand as the centerpiece of the administration’s “Golden Fleet” initiative and will be the first of its kind providing dominant firepower and a decisive advantage over adversaries by integrating the most advanced deep-strike weapons of today with the revolutionary systems of the years ahead.
Officials said the ships will be engineered to outmatch any foreign adversary, with the new battleship class being the centerpiece of its naval power.
At triple the size of an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, largely built by HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, the new battleship’s massive frame provides superior firepower, larger missile magazines, and the capability to launch Conventional Prompt Strike hypersonic missiles and the Surface Launch Cruise Missile-Nuclear.
Referred to as the future USS Defiant (BBG 1), the Navy said the first Trump class battleship and will be an unambiguous statement of American commitment to maritime superiority with capability to distribute more firepower across the fleet than any other class of ship, for any Navy, in history.
“The President has been clear – we must bring back our American maritime industrial might, and he has told me many times that as Secretary of the Navy it is my job to equip our sailors to win the fight at sea with the finest ships in our history,” said Secretary of the Navy Phelan. “Now when a conflict arises, you’re going to ask us two questions: where is the carrier, and where is the battleship.”
The announcement of the new battleships comes just days after the Navy said Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, a division of HII, has been selected to design and build the future small surface combatant ship.
READ MORE: Ingalls selected to design, build new small surface combatant for U.S. Navy
Secretary Phelan shared the news via social media on Friday, stating, “I have directed a new Frigate class as part of [the President’s] Golden Fleet. Built on a proven American design, in American shipyards, with an American supply chain, this effort is focused on one outcome: delivering combat power to the Fleet fast.”
To combat global threats, Phelan said the Navy seeks to unleash the American industrial base to achieve the department’s goals of delivering “on a wartime footing.”
The Trump administration wants defense contractors to produce the ships at a faster rate, with the president saying Monday, “They don’t produce them fast enough.” He plans to meet with defense contractors next week at his Mar-a-Lago residence to discuss the need to accelerate production schedules.
On Monday, Chis Kastner, HII president and CEO, told Magnolia Tribune that the company is proud to have built the Navy’s most technologically advanced surface combatants “and our shipbuilders are committed to continuing that work in lock step with the Navy to expand their Fleet.”
“We understand the urgency and have taken a number of actions to increase the speed at which we can deliver,” Kastner said. “We have seen improvements in our labor and throughput and expect these to continue in 2026. These efforts combined with our distributed shipbuilding network are working, and more capacity is being created to meet these critical requirements.”
Since the early 1970’s, as the premier large surface combatant shipyard, HII has built and delivered four different classes of destroyers: thirty-one Spruance-Class (DD 963), four Kidd-Class (DDG 993), nineteen Ticonderoga-Class (CG 47) and more than thirty-five Arleigh Burke-Class (DDG 51).
Ingalls is currently building Flight III enhanced Arleigh Burke Guided Missile Destroyers. Additionally, Ingalls will be completing modernization work on all three Zumwalt-class destroyers.
Frank Corder
