WASHINGTON — President Trump is preparing to announce plans to build new battleships for the first time in more than 80 years — and will name them after himself, according to a report.
The new ships will be an upgrade to Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers, the Wall Street Journal reported — with the current models costing more than $2 billion apiece to build.
It was not immediately clear how many of the new ships will be built, what new capabilities they might have or whether legislation will be required to finance the initiative.
The Journal also reported, citing a source, that the new class of battleships will be named the “Trump-class,” and that the first ship in the fleet will take the name USS Defiant.
There are 74 currently Arleigh Burke-class destroyers in service — built beginning in the late 1980s, and they serve versatile functions including air defense, aircraft carrier escort and as a launch pad for Tomahawk cruise missiles.
The ship class is named after prominent World War II admiral Arleigh Burke, who survived two Japanese kamikaze attacks during the fight for Okinawa and later served as chief of naval operations to Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John Kennedy.
The “Golden Fleet” branding leans into Trump’s inauguration-day pledge to usher in a new “Golden Age” for the country.
He has similarly branded a new missile-defense initiative the “Golden Dome” and gilded the Oval Office and Cabinet Room.
Trump is expected to be joined by Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth and Navy Secretary John Phelan at the shipbuilding announcement in Palm Beach, Fla., where he is spending Christmas week.
The US has not commissioned a battleship-class vessel since the USS Missouri in 1944. The previous US battleships were named after states.
