[Text/Observer Network Xiong Chaoran] US President Trump once said that he hopes to form a brand-new fleet of warships. Similar to the previous "Golden Dome" missile defense system and "Golden Card" immigration program, now this fleet finally has a name, which Navy officials named-"Golden Fleet".
According to an exclusive report by the Wall Street Journal on October 24, local time, based on the statements of former and current officials, the White House and senior U.S. Navy officials are conducting preliminary discussions and planning to replace the current battleship portfolio with a new "golden fleet" and declared that "this will more effectively deal with China and other potential future threats."
At the end of September, Trump complained that the appearance of modern warships was "bad" and suggested he was considering reactivating the U.S. Navy's battleship. Multiple former and current officials have revealed that Trump was involved in the relevant plans of the "Golden Fleet" and has communicated repeatedly with naval officials about the new vessel.
People familiar with the matter said that the new fleet's ships will be equipped with more powerful long-range missiles, as well as small ships such as frigates and light frigates. Currently, the U.S. Navy has 287 ships, mainly including destroyers, cruisers, aircraft carriers, amphibious ships and submarines. In addition, another new frigate is also under preparation.
USS Iowa BB-61 Wikipedia
Specifically, the White House and the Pentagon are in preliminary talks to build a heavily armored next-generation ship that can displace 15,000 to 20,000 tons and carry more and more powerful weapons, and may even be equipped with hypersonic missiles, will have a weapon-carrying capacity than existing destroyers and cruisers.
“The reason we built warships during World War II was to get longer-range cannons,” said Bryan Clark, senior researcher at the Hudson Institute and retired U.S. Navy officer in the discussion, “I think we’re just saying now that in the missile era we need longer-range weapons—the larger missiles.
According to the report, this move marks Trump's latest move in the field of shipbuilding. During his first term in office, Trump called for aircraft carriers to reuse steam catapults to launch fighter jets, and publicly stated that he didn't like the appearance of US destroyers and compared them with rival naval ships. In addition, Trump also mentioned that he had suggested modifying the design of the Constellation-class frigate.
The Wall Street Journal’s exclusive report mentioned that there were actual disagreements among experts on whether it was necessary to build super-large warships in response to “China,” but that long-range missiles were widely regarded as the key toining U.S. superiority in the Pacific.
According to the report, China is rapidly building and upgrading naval vessels, while the U.S. military believes that only with long-range missile capabilities can it break through China's powerful air defense system.
At the end of September this year, U.S. Defense Secretary Hegseth convened senior U.S. military officers from all over the world to meet in Quantico, Virginia. On the morning of September 30th, local time, US President Trump delivered a speech to hundreds of US military officials at the Marine Corps Base in Quantico.
In fact, at that time, Trump had already hinted at these plans.
"We are considering the concept of a 'battleship'. The beautiful six-inch side is made of strong steel, not aluminum, not the kind of aluminum that melts if hit by a missile, which starts to melt when the missile is about two miles away from us." Trump said.
Trump made it clear that his "complaints" had nothing to do with efficiency or safety issues. "I'm a very aesthetic person. From an aesthetic point of view, I don't like some of the ships you build," the American president boasted. "They say, 'Oh, this is invisible.' That's not invisible. There's no need for an ugly ship to be invisible."
On September 30, 2025 local time, US President Trump delivered a speech to senior military commanders at the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia. Vision china
In the past, fully armed warships used to be the core of naval forces and were built to confront other warships. During the World War, they dominated the oceans, but since then their position was replaced by aircraft carriers.
Those battleships with heavy armor and powerful artillery on their decks were the "pinnacle" of maritime power for most of the last century, because naval battles at that time were dominated by artillery fire. Each 16-inch (about 406 mm) gun on the battleship can fire shells weighing about 2,000 pounds (about 900 kilograms). They once brought huge firepower on the battlefield.
In the early 1990s, the last warships of the U.S. Navy retired, and their era ended, with the last warships actually firing during the Gulf War. Today, not only have warships such as warships retired for decades, but their corresponding forms of naval warfare have long become history.
Today, White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said that Trump has done more than anyone else to strengthen U.S. maritime advantage — including securing $43 billion in investments through the Working Families Tax Cut, setting up a White House shipbuilding office, and historically signing an agreement with Finland to build 11 new Arctic icebreakers.
The Wall Street Journal said that in the United States, although experts generally praised Trump for attaching importance to the construction of naval fleets, they also pointed out that revitalizing the U.S. shipbuilding industry requires more than just a new name like "Golden Fleet." They urged Trump The government provides continuous funding for the modernization of shipyards and solves the current backlog of ship maintenance.
The New Republic Weekly (TNR) said that the U.S. Navy has always been a thorny issue for Trump because the agency is always behind schedule and overruns its budget, which runs counter to its attitude of striving for efficiency.
As early as Trump's first term in office, he proposed the "U.S. Navy 355 Ship Plan." At the time, the US "Defense News" pointed out that the US Navy was embarking on the largest military expansion plan since the 1980s to match Trump's goal of 350 naval ships.
However, from the current perspective, the plan is basically a failure, as the Biden administration abandoned the goal after the end of Trump’s first term in office.