Navy's Trump Class Battleships Go Nuclear: What It Means for Future Naval Power

The U.S. Navy's future Trump class battleships will be nuclear-powered — a dramatic reversal from just four weeks ago, when then-Secretary of the Navy John Phelan called nuclear propulsion for the warships "unlikely." The service announced the decision in its Fiscal Year 2027 shipbuilding plan released May 11, marking one of the most significant shifts in the program's direction since it was first proposed.

The ships, designated BBGNs (nuclear-powered guided-missile battleships), will join the Nimitz and Ford class aircraft carriers as the only nuclear surface combatants in the fleet. The last U.S. nuclear surface warships — the cruiser USS Long Beach and frigate USS Bainbridge — left active duty in the 1990s.

What Changed in Four Weeks

Phelan told reporters at the Sea Air Space 2026 expo on April 21 that nuclear propulsion was possible but unlikely, citing cost and complexity concerns. "I think a little bit with those numbers, they're still moving around, because this question is it nuclear-powered, is it not nuclear-powered?" he said at the time. The following day, April 22, Phelan was fired by President Donald Trump. Veteran Navy officer Hung Cao took over as Acting Secretary.

On April 23, The New York Times reported that Phelan's exit was tied to disagreements with the White House over plans for the Trump class warships — including pressure to accelerate production. President Trump told press at the time that Phelan "had some conflicts with some other people, mostly as to building and buying new ships. I'm very aggressive in the new shipbuilding."

What the Ships Will Bring

Each Trump class BBGN will displace approximately 35,000 tons — roughly three times the displacement of the newest Flight III Arleigh Burke class destroyer. The ships will be 840 to 880 feet long with a beam of 105 to 115 feet, and will exceed 30 knots top speed.

The Navy's shipbuilding plan describes the arsenal in blunt terms: each vessel will carry a mix of nuclear and conventional missiles in a large vertical launch system, an electromagnetic railgun, a pair of 5-inch naval guns, laser directed-energy weapons, and additional close-in defense systems. "Vastly increased power generation capacity provides warfighting capability across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, including through electronic warfare tools and high-output lasers that allow us to reduce reliance on high-cost single-use munitions for both attack and defense," the plan states.

The ships are also designed to serve as forward command and control platforms. "The Battleship can lead a Surface Action Group, integrate its systems with a Carrier Strike Group for layered defense, or operate autonomously," according to the plan.

Program Scale and Cost

The Navy plans to acquire 15 Trump class BBGNs between Fiscal Year 2028 and 2055 — roughly one every other year. The first two ships will be ordered back-to-back in FY2030 and FY2031. The lead ship, USS Defiant, is expected to enter service in FY2036. Each ship carries an estimated price tag of $17 billion per unit, surpassing the projected cost of each of the next three Ford class carriers, which range from $13 to $15 billion.

The Navy is acutely aware of the manufacturing challenges. "Learning from the lessons of prior shipbuilding programs, the Battleship acquisition plan is a prime example of how we are changing the way the Navy does business," the plan notes. "This will be the first clean-sheet surface combatant designed in more than 30 years, and we are deliberately incorporating modern digital engineering, advanced production practices, and AI enabled design tools to reduce cost and schedule risk from the outset."

The Industrial Base Challenge

Nuclear-powered surface shipbuilding in the United States is currently limited to Newport News Shipbuilding, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, which builds the Ford class carriers. That yard is already under pressure from delays and cost growth on the Ford class, the Columbia class ballistic missile submarine program, and plans to provide Virginia class submarines to Australia under AUKUS.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle had previously noted the operational logic for nuclear power on a large warship: "Wouldn't it be logical to be nuclear powered? And that brings a tail to the construction that just really fell outside the scope of what we want to do on the speed to get this thing in the water." The decision now gives the program that nuclear tail — but adds to an already stretched industrial base.

What to Watch

The first Trump class warship won'tcommission until 2036, meaning the program will outlast the current presidential administration. Future administrations could revise the scope, shift funding, or cancel the program entirely. The nuclear decision is now locked in — but whether 15 BBGNs materialize on schedule depends heavily on whether U.S. shipyards can absorb the additional workload without further delays to existing programs.

For the tactical and defense community, the Trump class represents something not seen in decades: a purpose-built naval surface combatant designed from the ground up for high-end conflict, with the power generation to support directed-energy weapons and advanced sensors that current destroyers and cruisers simply cannot match. Whether the industrial base can deliver on that vision is the central question ahead.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources: The War Zone, USNI News, U.S. Navy