The White House announced that the fiscal year 2027 defense budget includes a request for $65.8 billion for the construction of new ships. New Defiant-class guided-missile battleships are to be built, which will be the flagships of the so-called Golden Fleet.

The Trump administration is projecting a record defense budget for the coming year. It has been reported that maintaining the military in fiscal year 2027 will require $1.5 trillion. Of this amount, $68.5 billion has been allocated for new US Navy ships. The White House has announced the need to build 34 new ships.

This is a record budget since 1945. The US Navy would receive 18 ships for this amount. The remaining ships are logistics ships, including tankers and roll-on/roll-off transport ships. The increased military and defense budget would result from a 10% reduction in non-defense spending. The Trump administration proposes to reduce this spending by approximately $73 billion. It is suggested that social spending groups be reduced from state and local government budgets. The federal government would reduce health research, public schools, and higher education. Funding for renewable energy projects would also be eliminated.

The Golden Fleet in the Budget and Shipyards
During a luncheon in Washington, Trump stated that military spending must be the top national priority. “We’re fighting wars. We can’t provide day care, Medicaid, Medicare, and all those individual things,” Trump said, according to WorkBoat.com.

The Office of Management and Budget’s 2027 plans list the naval program under the banner of “Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance.” This is a crucial element of what the Trump administration defines as a program to “strategically recapitalize the maritime industrial base.”

“In the face of increasing competition for waters around the world, the United States must be able to effectively deliver the diverse maritime platforms it needs, including both combat forces and support vessels to ensure maritime domain awareness and deterrence,” the justification for planned U.S. Navy spending in the “Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2027” states.

The budget plan calls for the creation of “President Trump’s Golden Fleet, including initial funding for a Trump-class battleship and next-generation frigates.” The “Budget of the United States Government” states that the government will seek to “maintain or increase procurement of existing combatant platforms, including amphibious assault ships and Columbia- and Virginia-class submarines.”

The procurement of support vessels will be expanded to include strategic sealift and hospital vessels. The plans also include tankers capable of bunkering ships at sea. A “special mission ship” and funding for the construction of new submarines are also planned.

RGM-109 Tomahawk Land-Attack Missiles (TLAMs) fired from an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in Iranian territory. Source: US Navy. Prepared by: https://www.twz.com/sea/black-tomahawk-cruise-missile-seen-for-the-first-time-in-strikes-on-iran

1,200% More Tomahawks

The new budget for fiscal year 2027 assumes a 1,200 percent increase in the number of Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles and a 225 percent increase in the number of Standard Missile 6 missiles compared to what Congress appropriated for fiscal year 2026, according to Mallory Shelbourne and Sam LaGrone of USNI News, according to the White House budget program.

Funding will be provided from sources included in the traditional budget request and reconciliation funding. The rationale for the new missile armament is that both types of weapons are the primary ammunition for guided missile destroyers, which form the backbone of the Navy’s current warfare in the Middle East.

The U.S. Navy is requesting Congressional funding for 785 additional Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles at a cost of $3 billion. This represents a more than 1,200 percent increase over the 55 TLAMs that Congress funded in fiscal year 2026 at a cost of $258 million, according to the Pentagon budget released in early April 2026.

The Navy is also requesting 540 SM-6 missiles at a cost of $4.33 billion, compared to 166 SM-6 missiles at a cost of $1.41 billion in fiscal year 2026. The Navy is also requesting 494 AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles for $804 million. “This represents a significant 370% increase compared to 2026,” Shelbourne and LaGrone calculated.

US Navy ships also require 141 MK-48 heavy-lift torpedoes for $571 million. Most of the Tomahawk and SM-6 missile orders would be part of the second federal funding reconciliation bill. This funding arrangement would allow the Navy to spread the procurement over several years. This is the second consecutive budget cycle in which the Trump administration has used reconciliation to supplement its annual budget request, dividing funding and procurement volumes between the two legislative branches, USNI News explained.

US ships fired approximately 850 missiles at targets in Iran, sources report, based on information from the Navy. The Navy recently released the first images from Operation Epic Fury. These include launches of RGM-109 Tomahawk Land-Attack Missiles (TLAMs) from Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.

US ships fired approximately 850 missiles at targets in Iran, sources report, based on information from the Navy. The Navy recently released the first images from Operation Epic Fury. These include launches of RGM-109 Tomahawk Land-Attack Missiles (TLAMs) from Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.

Investments in Shipyards and Battleships

The budget also envisages the expansion of production and repair shipyards. The “Budget of the United States Government” states that “Repair capacity at national shipyards will be increased, and increased production in coastal waters will help resolve delays and ensure on-time delivery of ships.” The budget, submitted in April, directly addresses the USS Defiant (BBG-1) guided-missile battleship project announced by Trump in December of last year.

According to press releases, the USS Defiant and subsequent ships of this class are in the design and planning phase. However, actual construction based on technical designs will only be possible once the Trump administration receives full funding. This, in turn, depends on whether Congress agrees to social cuts and a significant budget allocation for the development of the US Navy. The previously passed defense bill provides $26 billion for the construction of new ships for the US Navy.

Trump said during a December press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida that the program would begin “immediately.” The program will begin with the construction of two Trump-class ships and then “rapidly expand to 10 ships, ultimately encompassing 20-25 new ships.”

If Defiant receives funding and political and military approval, it will be the first new U.S. battleship since the Iowa-class ships entered service. The ships left the shipyard during World War II. The U.S. Navy retired the last battleships in the early 1990s. A new deterrence strategy shifted surface ship development toward cruisers and destroyers optimized for missile warfare and carrier escort missions.

Defiant battleship concept. Source: US Navy, U.S., Naval Institute (U.S.NI) News, usni.org/

The new ship is to be a design with a displacement of over 35,000 tons and a draft of 24-30 feet, according to Navy data analyzed by U.S. Naval Institute (U.S.NI) News. The battleship will be more than twice the size of the 15,000-ton Zumwalt-class destroyer, which is currently the largest surface ship in the fleet.

“The ships will be designed and built in the United States,” President Trump emphasizes repeatedly. Last December, Donald Trump did not rule out the possibility of the United States cooperating with other countries in developing the US Navy.

When asked if the new class of ships was intended to be a counterweight to China, Trump replied: “It’s a counterweight to everyone. It’s not just China,” U.S.NI reported, noting that “The new ships will replace the Navy’s next-generation DDG(X) program, which was projected to be half the size of the proposed battleship.” Construction of the battleships is expected to begin in the early 2030s.