Congressional Budget Office projects $275 billion price tag for Trump-class battleship fleet

A Congressional Budget Office analysis projects that the U.S. Navy’s Trump-class battleship program, announced in late 2025, could require $275 billion in 2026 dollars to build 15 nuclear-powered ships from 2028 through 2056. The first ship is priced at $23.4 billion, while the subsequent vessels are each estimated at $18 billion, making the fleet one of the costliest surface combatant projects in American history. The ships would displace roughly 35,000 tonnes, measure between 840 and 880 feet, and feature a suite of advanced weapons including 128 VLS cells, hypersonic missiles, high-energy lasers, a railgun and nuclear-armed cruise missiles.

A comparable conventionally powered design would cost about $243 billion, indicating nuclear propulsion adds roughly 13 percent to the overall expense. The CBO cautions that the program would demand a more than doubling of large-surface-combatant production by 2035, a pace that existing shipyards, especially Newport News Shipbuilding—the sole facility certified for new nuclear surface warships, may struggle to meet. Ongoing delays in destroyer, submarine and carrier construction could be exacerbated by this ambitious schedule.