The U.S. Navy’s new shipbuilding plan includes one of its most surprising ideas in decades: a nuclear-powered Trump-class battleship, also known as BBG(X). The Navy’s 30-year plan shows 15 BBG(X) purchases, with three planned between fiscal years 2027 and 2031 at a projected cost of about $43.5 billion. These modern battleships are not meant to be Iowa-class throwbacks. They are envisioned as massive missile-carrying surface combatants with deep magazines, command-and-control space, hypersonic weapons, directed-energy systems, and enough electrical power to support future weapons like lasers and railguns. But the plan raises some major questions. Would a few enormous battleships actually solve the Navy’s missile-capacity problem, or would smaller destroyers, frigates, unmanned vessels, and carrier aircraft spread that firepower more effectively? How does BBG(X) compare to Arleigh Burke-c
