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, 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:
- Hypersonic Missiles: Dedicated tubes for Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) weapons.
- Directed Energy: 150kW+ High Energy Lasers for drone and missile defense.
- Nuclear Capability: The return of sea-launched nuclear cruise missiles (SLCM-N).
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.