President Trump Announces "Golden Fleet" and New Battleship Class at Mar-a-Lago
PALM BEACH, FL — In a landmark announcement from Mar-a-Lago this week, President Trump, joined by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of the Navy John Phelan, officially unveiled the "Golden Fleet" initiative. The centerpiece of this ambitious naval expansion is the resurrection of the battleship designation with the new Trump Class Ships, starting with the USS Defiant (BBG-1).
"These will be the largest, most lethal ships ever to sail the ocean," the President stated. Confirmed details indicate the new vessels will displace over 35,000 tons—roughly three times the size of current destroyers. The move marks a strategic shift away from smaller, littoral combat ships toward massive, power-projection platforms.
The *USS Defiant* is set to feature technologies that have been in development for decades but never fully integrated into a single hull. The ship's confirmed loadout includes:
Sources familiar with the design indicate the primary railgun will be capable of striking targets 100 nautical miles inland with pinpoint accuracy, while the SLCM-N nuclear capability provides a strategic deterrent unmatched by any other surface vessel.
Construction on the first two hulls is slated to begin immediately, utilizing a "robot-assisted" manufacturing process to overcome traditional shipyard delays. The Navy aims for a total fleet size of 20–25 of these capital ships.