Malaya, Missouri, Iowa, Bismarck, Yamato and Prince of Wales are the names of six major warships or battleships that once terrified enemy ships. Battleship-class ships became the most proud ships of a navy and were therefore equipped with the most powerful and largest weapons.
During World War II (WWII), the weaknesses of battleships were exposed after HMS Prince of Wales sank in the waters of Kuantan due to bombing by Japanese aircraft. Because of this weakness, the last battleship, HMS Vanguard, was launched in 1946 with no new ships being built.
Despite the current strategy finding that battleships are no longer compatible with the modern battlefield, President Trump today announced that the United States will restart battleship construction using the Trump Class name.
Two Trump Class ships will be built first with the first ship using the name USS Defiant. With a length of over 271 meters, it will also be the longest battleship ever built, surpassing the previous record holder USS New Jersey (270.69 m). However, it only weighs up to 40,000 tons, which is lighter than the IJN Yamato (72,000 tons).
When operating in class, the Defiant will use the official title Guided Missile Battleship (BBG) and it will not only be equipped with a giant cannon barrel like a traditional battleship. Instead, it will be equipped with the ability to launch hypersonic missiles, laser weapons, railgun cannons, 30mm cannons, nuclear missiles and SAM and anti-drone defense systems to repel enemy attacks. With this multi-weapon system, a BBG ship has 80 times the destructive power of previous battleships.
Between 20-25 Trump Class ships are planned to be built and they will be equipped with an Integrated Full Electric Propulsion System (IFEP) that uses a combination of gas and diesel turbines to drive the electrical grid, which in turn drives the ship's advanced propulsion system and weapons.
It will carry up to 850 crew members and it will emphasize the ability to move quickly and not be equipped with thick armor to equip a Carrier Strike Group on the battlefield of the future. When the USS Defiant will be built and the overall cost of the program have not been announced at this time.
What is clear is that the Trump Class ships will be equipped with almost all the weapons used by the United States Navy (USN) and remind us of the lead ships at the end of missions in the video games Ace Combat and Top Gun.