Steel & Sea

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Contents
  1. Design and development
  2. Specifications
  3. Armament and sensors
  4. Variants
  5. Ships in class
  6. Service history
  7. Similar classes

On 22 December 2025, the Trump administration announced a proposed new class of guided-missile battleships for the US Navy, designated BBG(X). The Congressional Research Service says they would be the first battleships procured by the Navy since World War II, and larger and more heavily armed than any cruiser or destroyer the Navy has bought since that war. The same day, the Navy posted notices of two intended design-work contracts with estimated performance periods of six years. ExecutiveGov reports that the Navy has since awarded sole-source design work to Leidos Gibbs & Cox2, and to Bath and Ingalls for ship design support. In January 2026 the Navy envisaged 15 to 25 of the ships in total1.

The administration intends for the lead ship to be named Defiant, and for the class to be called the Defiant class or the Trump class1.

Design and development

In 2026 the design is still in its early stages3. The Congressional Research Service’s January 2026 report describes BBG(X) as a conventionally powered, “fossil-fueled” ship1. The Navy’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2027 still described non-nuclear BBGs, but its latest shipbuilding plan refers to the ships as BBGNs, nuclear-powered guided-missile battleships. The War Zone reported in May 2026 that, at least for the time being, the Navy has settled on nuclear reactors4 for the class, and Interesting Engineering names the reactor for USS Defiant as the A1B5. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found that the nuclear choice makes the ship about 13 percent more expensive to build2 than a conventionally powered ship of the same displacement.

For the conventional ship, the CBO estimated that a first BBG(X) procured in FY2030 would cost $17.6 billion to $18.9 billion in FY2025 dollars, including the class’s nonrecurring detailed design costs, and later ships $12.2 billion to $13.1 billion each. The Navy’s own budget submission, also for a conventionally powered ship, estimated $15.1 billion for a lead ship and $10.2 billion for the second and third. For the nuclear design, the CBO estimated a lead ship at $23.4 billion and 14 follow-on ships averaging $18 billion each, or $275 billion for 15 ships between FY2028 and FY20563. The office called its estimates highly uncertain2. The ships would form part of the Navy’s forthcoming “Golden Fleet” ship force-structure plan1.

Specifications

The design goal is a full-load displacement of more than 35,000 tons and a length of 840 to 880 feet (256 to 268 m). The War Zone gives a planned beam of 105 to 115 feet. The Iowa-class battleships, the Navy’s most recent, were 887 feet long with a full-load displacement of about 57,000 tons1, against which BBG(X) would be shorter and lighter. Army Recognition puts it at 3.61 times the weight of a Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. Army Recognition gives a sustained speed of more than 30 knots3; The War Zone gives a top speed greater than 30 knots4.

According to congressional testimony the CBO cited, HII Newport News Shipbuilding would handle final assembly, as the only new-construction yard certified for nuclear-powered surface ships. Army Recognition describes major modules produced by Bath Iron Works and Ingalls Shipbuilding3; neither holds nuclear certification2. The Congressional Research Service’s January 2026 report lists all three yards as capable of building BBG(X)1.

Armament and sensors

The Congressional Research Service describes the planned weapons only in general terms: a combination of missiles, guns, lasers and other weapons, greater in total than the weapons on the Navy’s current cruisers and destroyers. Army Recognition’s report on the CBO analysis is more specific: 128 Mk 41 vertical launch cells and four Conventional Prompt Strike launchers, each holding three hypersonic missiles. It also lists one electromagnetic railgun, two high-energy laser systems and two 5-inch guns, along with two RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile launchers. The Navy said the ship would carry the nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile2. The combat system would be built around a scaled-up AN/SPY-6 air and missile defense radar3. One question the Congressional Research Service raises for Congress is whether the railgun and higher-power lasers would be mature by the early 2030s1.

Variants

In the designation BBG(X), (X) means the design has not yet been fully developed1. The Navy’s latest shipbuilding plan uses BBGN, with N for nuclear-powered4, and Interesting Engineering reports the class officially redesignated from BBG(X) to BBGN5.

Ships in class

As of May 2026, no ship of the class had been ordered: the Navy is still planning to order the first, USS Defiant, in FY20284. Army Recognition sets out the plan as the first ship authorized in FY2028, two ships in FY2030 and FY2031, then one every two years through FY20563. Among the issues the Congressional Research Service lists for Congress: whether an analysis of alternatives informed the proposal, its fit with the Navy’s Distributed Maritime Operations concept, and its effect on funding for other Navy programs. The Navy reportedly intends to suspend work on the DDG(X) destroyer1 as a consequence.

Service history

No ship of the class has entered service; the Navy assumes an eight-year construction period for the first battleship3. In January 2026 the Congressional Research Service wrote that a first ship procured in the early 2030s could enter service in the late 2030s or around 20401.

Similar classes

  • Arleigh Burke-class destroyer: far smaller, at 510 feet and 9,700 tons1, with 96 Mk 41 cells on a Flight III3.
  • Iowa class: the Navy’s last battleships, 887 feet and about 57,000 tons, built with very thick and heavy armor plating1.
  • Zumwalt class: three destroyers of 610 feet and 16,000 tons1, with 80 Mk 41 cells3.