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donald trump announced plans on Monday to build a new class for the US Navy warships It will be some of the largest ships of its type fielded by the service.
The warships, which are part of an effort to develop a new “Golden Fleet,” will be “100 times more powerful than any warship ever built,” Trump announced.
Details learned first wall street journal The ships are indicated to replace the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and will cost approximately $5 billion each.
A US official claimed the ships would weigh 30,000-40,000 tonnes and have the capability to carry future technology such as directed energy lasers and railguns, according to the president. magazineThe newspaper reported that the new fleet, which will also include new frigates announced by the service last week, was the product of the work of a joint Navy-White House team to combat the threat, ChinaEffect of.
Trump on Monday denied that was the specific purpose of the fleet, instead claiming it would counter “everybody” and talking up his administration’s relationship with Beijing.
The President spoke to Palm BeachFlorida, where he is staying for the Christmas holidays into the New Year. The signs next to the President depict an artistic rendition of the new line’s first ship, the “Trump-class USS Defiant.”
The President announced, “As Commander-in-Chief, it is my great honor to announce that I have approved a plan to begin construction of two new, much larger, battleships for the Navy, the largest ever built.”
“There’s never been anything like these ships,” Trump said. “These have been under design consideration for a long time. And it started in my first term, because I said, ‘Why aren’t we building warships like we used to?'”
“During World War II we used to build a ship a day. And now we don’t really build ships,” the president complained Monday, before praising his first administration on the issue of Navy submarine construction and revolution. During his first term, US naval shipbuilding missed targets set by the Obama administration.
Top cabinet officials including the State Secretary were present with him marco rubio and Secretary of Defense pete hegseth,
The Secretary of the Navy, John Phelan, claimed that the Trump administration would “make warships great again” and build the “best looking” ships on the planet.
Monday’s announcement follows a months-long military campaign against small boats in the Caribbean that US officials say are ferrying drugs to American shores. The Trump administration has offered little outside of classified briefings to Congress as the death toll has swelled to more than 100 in the operation, which the US government once treated as a law enforcement matter requiring prosecution rather than the application of lethal military force.
A major naval construction is underway Venezuelaoff the coasts of the United States and US forces have begun to interdict and seize oil tankers sanctioned by the US Treasury for alleged involvement with illegal organizations. The president said Monday that the U.S. will “keep” the oil and ships seized as part of sanctions enforcement operations, but did not specify whether it would be sold or added to the U.S. strategic reserve.
The President said, “Maybe we’ll sell it, maybe we’ll keep it, maybe we’ll use it in the strategic stockpile. We’re keeping it. We’re even keeping the ships.”
The US government continues to insist that the Venezuelan government, run by Nicolas Maduro, is controlled by the criminal gang led by Maduro himself. The Maduro government remained in power after 2024 elections, which many US and international election monitors said were fraudulent.
On Monday, Trump reiterated his insistence that the US would launch ground operations targeting Venezuelan drug trafficking groups, while also claiming to reporters that those operations would be expanded to all locations from which drugs were allegedly being “poured” into the United States.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth offered another defense of the attacks against small boats, which international experts say are extrajudicial killings of alleged criminals and may also kill innocent people: “There are no fishing rods, no fishermen and no fishing boats, just drug dealers and narco terrorists. And with every attack, we are saving American lives. No other president has been willing to do real deterrence.” Well, that’s exactly what’s happening.”
Trump did not so much as say that his goal was to remove Maduro from power; However, it is a blow to members of his party, such as Senators Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz, who are strong supporters of US-led regime change in the South American country.
“He can do whatever he wants. That’s OK. If he plays tough, it will be the last time, although it may be the last time he gets to play tough,” Trump said of Maduro.