US Navy's new "Trump class" nuclear-powered program could hit $275 billion with the first ship alone costing an eye-watering $23.4 billion

Date:
Wed, 12 Aug 2026 21:20:00 +0000

Description:
US Navy's proposed Trump-class program could cost $275 billion while
demanding unprecedented shipyard output despite persistent construction
delays and rising costs.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter The Trump-class battleship program could cost the Navy $275 billion total First battleship alone carries a staggering $23.4 billion price tag Each ship weighs 35,000 tons and packs hypersonic missiles, nuclear missiles, lasers, and more A new US
Congressional Budget Office report has estimated that the Navy's proposed Trump-class battleship program could ultimately cost taxpayers $275 billion.

The first vessel alone is projected to cost $23.4 billion, roughly $6 billion more than the Navy's initial estimate initially offered in December 2025. Officials describe the 35,000-ton nuclear-powered warship as the most heavily armed surface combatant the Navy has ever attempted to build. Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here: Ambitious design, timeline, and escalating costs The Trump administration announced its intention to build this new class of large surface combatants in December 2025, describing it as a guided missile battleship.

It plans to equip this battleship with rail guns, large lasers, hypersonic missiles, nuclear cruise missiles and anti-air, land-attack and anti-ship missiles. You may like Saronics new $3.2 billion 'Port Alpha' autonomous navy drone shipyard will be bigger than every 2026 World Cup stadium combined Castlelion sells affordable hypersonic Mach 5 missiles for the price of a supercar by tapping into the O&G and audio industries to get cheaper components faster Pentagon launches campaign for unmanned boats able to
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If built to those specifications, the ship would be the largest surface combatant in the world and larger than any surface combatant built for the Navy since World War II, according to the report.

It would be more than three and a half times the size of the Navys Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer and more than twice the size of the Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyer. Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Contact me
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The Navy will construct 15 Trump-class battleships between 2028 and 2056,
with each of the following fourteen ships priced at $18 billion.

By comparison, the USS Gerald R. Ford, the Navy's newest nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, cost approximately $13.3 billion to build.

According to the CBO report, shipyards would need to produce 12% greater tonnage by 2035 under the 2027 plan than under the 2025 version. What to read next 3D-printed drones built on a US Navy ship for the first time,
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To meet this schedule, the Navy would need to construct roughly one new battleship every other year between 2028 and 2056.

During that same period, the service would also need to continue producing
two DDG-51 destroyers every single year without interruption or delay.

By 2058, total tonnage for large surface combatants would need to grow by
60%, a pace the report calls a potential challenge for industry. Shipbuilding struggles raise doubts Concerns about the Navy's shipbuilding capacity are
not new, and a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report from last March outlined years of setbacks.

The GAO found that too few ships have been completed, that new vessels often fail to perform as expected, and that deliveries frequently run late.

Some ships have arrived up to three years behind schedule, according to the agency's assessment of nearly two decades of shipbuilding programs.

"We are effectively made to operate in a perpetual state of triage," said Shelby S. Oakley, director at the Government Accountability Office.

Oakley told the Senate Armed Services Committee that unrealistic assumptions about cost and schedule have repeatedly diverted resources and delayed shipbuilding programs.

The report further notes that switching to nuclear propulsion could lower the battleship's long-term operating costs by removing the need for fuel purchases.

However, the CBO did not provide a specific estimate of how much money
nuclear power might save over the life of the program.

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/us-navys-new-trump-class-nuclear-powered-program -could-hit-usd275-billion-with-the-first-ship-alone-costing-an-eye-watering-us d23-4-billion


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