First Trump-class Battleship Could Cost $23.4B, Says CBO

[Timber Rattler]

https://news.usni.org/2026/08/05/first-trump-class-battleship-could-cost-23-4b-says-cbo

The first Trump-class battleship (BBG(X)) could cost about $23 billion with an overall cost for the 15-ship program to be about $275 billion, according to a new Congressional Budget Office estimate published on Wednesday.

Based on the published estimate on the size and nuclear propulsion, the CBO calculated a full displacement 35,000-ton nuclear battleship would average to about $18 billion a hull over the life of the program.

“If built to those specifications, the ship would be the largest surface combatant in the world and larger than any surface combatant built for the Navy since World War II,” reads the report. “It would be more than three and a half times the size of the Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer and more than twice the size of the Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyer.”

Announced in December, the Trump-class battleship would be built around a 128 Mark 41 vertical launch cells, four tubes for Conventional Prompt Strike hypersonic missiles, an electromagnetic railgun and a scaled-up version of the Navy’s AN/SPY-6 integrated air and missile defense radar.

“Other elements would include large lasers, a rail gun, and a variety of defensive sys­tems such as guns, smaller missiles, decoys, and optical dazzlers intended to counter and disrupt unmanned aerial systems. If some of those technologies were not available when construction began, the Navy could still build the ship, reserving space and power for their later installation,” reads the report.

EXCERPT

Well, it'll truly be gold-plated for sure!