Is the US Navy 'swimming against the tide' with President Trump's shipbuilding plans?

According to CNN, this program has been under considerable pressure in recent years due to its inability to deliver new warships on schedule and within budget — a fact that President Donald Trump himself frankly pointed out in his speech at Mar-a-Lago on December 22.

"

We manufacture the best weapons in the world, far superior, unmatched by anyone. However, we don't produce them fast enough.

President Donald Trump speaks

Along with this announcement, President Trump said he would soon meet with top US military contractors to ramp up production for the new class of battleships as well as other weapons programs.

However, specifically regarding the development of battleships, the US Navy appears to be "swimming against the current" in the face of enormous challenges related to shipbuilding capacity and the development of the weapon systems expected to be equipped on this class of ships.

Strategic vision

A document released by the U.S. Navy on December 22nd asserts that the "Trump-class" ships will be "the most lethal warships ever built."

Measuring up to approximately 268 meters in length and with a displacement of 30,000 to 40,000 tons, these will be the largest surface warships the U.S. Navy has built since World War II.

For comparison, iconic battleships like the USS Missouri—where Japan's surrender document was signed in 1945—were approximately 270 meters long and had a displacement of around 58,000 tons. Meanwhile, the largest surface warships currently in the U.S. Navy fleet are the Zumwalt-class destroyers, which have a displacement of only about 15,000 tons.

According to the planned design, the Navy's new website for this class of ships states: "The ships will possess the most destructive firepower of any surface vessel ever to sail, with the ability to strike the enemy at distances 80 times greater than the previous class of ships."

In terms of weaponry, these battleships will be equipped with nuclear hypersonic missiles, launched from 12 tubes on board. These missiles are capable of carrying nuclear warheads and reaching hypersonic speeds.ButThat means it's five times faster than the speed of sound; and it has high maneuverability to deceive enemy defenses. In addition, the battleship is equipped with a vertical launch system. The Trump-class ships.It will also possess 128 vertical launch tubes. These tubes can be used for slower-flying missiles such as Tomahawk cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles, or interceptor missiles for defensive purposes.

Other equipment fitted on board includes cannons, along with a range of other systems. laser weapons.

President Trump asserted that the planned ships would possess 100 times the power of the legendary battleships from World War II.

Challenges in shipbuilding

The current administration has yet to provide a specific timeline for the design phase, a process the President has stated he will personally participate in; or when construction of the first two ships will begin.

This new battleship project will be led by a system of naval shipbuilding facilities that have struggled to meet their goals in recent years. Even Navy Secretary John Phelan this year used the word "chaos" to describe the situation.

"All of our programs are in disarray. I think our best shipbuilding project is now six months behind schedule and 57% over budget," Phelan stated at a hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives in June 2025.

Just last month, Phelan was forced to cancel the Constellation-class frigate program – a project already about three years behind schedule, even though it is a smaller and far less complex type of warship than the battleship class that President Trump is proposing.

Considering the size and complexity of the ships, the Navy's newest aircraft carrier, the USS John F. Kennedy, is also about two years behind schedule compared to its original July delivery date. These delays are attributed to the fact that the new landing systems and weapon elevators are still undergoing technical testing.

The question is, who will build these new battleships? American shipyards are already overwhelmed with existing construction, maintenance, and overhaul projects.

"We no longer have the maritime and shipbuilding industrial infrastructure to do this quickly," said Carl Schuster, an analyst and former U.S. Navy colonel.

Schuster added that ships the size of the Trump-class would require comparable ship space to the large amphibious assault ships and logistics support vessels that the Navy also desperately needs. Therefore, the U.S. would have to reactivate closed shipyards or build entirely new ones.

Next is the issue of the workforce. "There needs to be a national recruitment and training program for workers in shipbuilding, power generation, information systems, and sensors to support this program," Schuster emphasized.

Navy Secretary Phelan recently highlighted recruitment challenges, particularly regarding wages. Speaking at a defense conference in Indiana last month, he stated, "If workers can earn the same amount of money working at an Amazon warehouse or a convenience store, they are less likely to choose the hard, strenuous work at a naval shipyard."

Alessio Patalano, a professor of war and strategy at King's College London, argues that Washington has the technical know-how to build these ships, but they must overcome the shipyard challenge. "The question is whether the U.S. has the shipyard capacity and workforce to turn a 'golden fleet' on paper into a real fleet at sea," he said.

Finally, cost is a factor that cannot be ignored. On December 22, President Trump stated that the new battleships would eventually replace the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers – the "backbone" of the U.S. surface fleet.

These destroyers cost around $2 billion each. Meanwhile, a Trump-class ship could cost up to $15 billion, according to a December 22 report from the U.S. Naval Institute.