US plans to build up to 15 battleships designed to serve as a “strike-centric arsenal ship” to deter China have been called into question.
Analysts said the ships would not only be vulnerable to anti-ship missiles, but would also be expensive to operate and maintain, and questioned whether the United States had the industrial capacity to build the vessels.
On Monday, the US Navy outlined its shipbuilding plan for the next three decades, including a detailed layout for what the White House has dubbed the “Golden Fleet”.
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The plan includes the construction of a new class of battleship, dubbed the Trump-class, under the programme named BBG(X), with BB referring to battleship, G to guided-missile ship and (X) for the ships that have not yet been developed.
The US Navy said it planned to acquire up to 15 Trump-class battleships by 2055, with the first budget request for the procurement of the warship to be made in 2028 and the first vessel to be delivered by 2036.
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It also disclosed for the first time that the ships would be nuclear-powered, saying this was “designed to provide the fleet with a significant increase in combat power by longer endurance, higher speed and accommodating advanced weapon systems required for modern warfare”.