President Donald Trump has announced that the US will commission a new series of heavily armed Navy battleships named after himself, as part of a revamped Golden Fleet.
Construction on the Trump-class USS Defiant ship, which will be equipped to carry an array of weapons, is expected to begin soon, with Trump saying the first vessels will be operational in two-and-a-half years.
The announcement is part of a larger planned expansion of the US Navy by President Trump in both manned and unmanned vessels, including larger missile-armed warships and smaller vessels.
Officials have warned that the US currently lags behind China in both shipbuilding capacity and total output.
Speaking at his Mar-a-Lago golf club in Florida alongside defence secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of the Navy John Phelan, Trump said he approved the construction of two new battleships to start, with a plan to build up to 25.
They'll be the fastest, the biggest, and by far, 100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built, Trump stated.
Once completed, Trump said the armed vessels would be equipped to carry hypersonic and extremely lethal weapons, serving as the flagships of the US Navy. The vessels are to be constructed domestically, promising to create thousands of jobs.
In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Phelan noted that Trump specifically requested a big, beautiful battleship-type vessel, which will also include dozens of support and transport vessels.
The announcement follows an earlier reveal of a new set of vessels based on the US Coast Guard's Legend-class National Security Cutter, cited by Chief of Naval Operations Daryl Caudle.
US naval and air assets are currently focused on the Caribbean in response to rising tensions with Venezuela, with recent operations aimed at countering drug trafficking in the area.
