President Trump announced a new class of battleship, the“Trump” class. It’s interesting, given this is the president who avoided the draft through a questionable medical situation, bone spurs. But this new identification with a battleship is a quintessential chickenhawk maneuver.

According to Trump, each ship will be the largest battleshipin the history of our country, the largest battleship in the history of the world, ever built. Not exactly, and Trump’s claim is unfounded. The new ships are impressive, but so too arethe old Iowa class battleships.

The building of the new ships also raises questions, thatwe'll cover in the podcast.

And the Notes for the podcast are listed below. You can alsofind the full text for the podcast at the substack site: https://erm76.substack.com/p/trump-battleships-and-greenlandoh

Notes:

(1) “Did a Queens Podiatrist Help Donald Trump AvoidVietnam?,” by Steve Eder, The New York Times. Dec. 26, 2018.https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/26/us/politics/trump-vietnam-draft-exemption.html

(2) Merriam-Webster.https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chicken%20hawk

(3) “Trump announcesnew “Trump class” of Navy battleships,” by Kathryn Watson, CBS News. December22, 2025.https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-hegseth-announcement-mar-a-lago-shipbuilding/

(4) “Plans unveiledfor US largest battleships, triple the size of Arleigh Burke-class destroyer,”by Fatima Bahtić, NavalToday.com. December 23, 2025.https://www.navaltoday.com/2025/12/23/plans-unveiled-for-us-largest-battleships-triple-the-size-of-arleigh-burke-class-destroyer/

(5) “BattleshipMissouri Memorial.” Ship Characteristics.https://ussmissouri.org/history/the-ship/ship-characteristics

Please note: Anotherdifference between the older and newer ships besides weaponry and electronics, is the Iowa class battleships were heavily armored. This accounts for some of the weight differential. And both the Missouri and the New Jersey, anotherWorld War II battleships, were modernized and served after World War II in other conflicts before being decommissioned/retired.

(6),” Golden Fleet.US Navy.” https://www.goldenfleet.navy.mil/

Also, please see: “Trump-Class Battleship: Railguns,Hypersonic Missiles and 40,000 Tons of Raw U.S. Navy Power,” by Stephen Silver, 19FortyFive. 12/22/25.https://www.19fortyfive.com/2025/12/trump-class-battleship-railguns-hypersonic-missiles-and-40000-tons-of-raw-u-s-navy-power/#:~:text=Experts%20Are%20Skeptical&text=Iowa%2DClass%20Battleship.,a%20cool%2Dlooking%20ship.%E2%80%9D

Please note: The new ships would have an edge in a power projection situation. But what country is the US going to try to overawe? And is the cost for this factor justified?

(7) “An Overview of Current U.S. Hypersonic MissileDevelopments,” by Lauren Estrada, Defense and Security Monitor. December 22, 2025.https://dsm.forecastinternational.com/2025/12/22/an-overview-of-current-u-s-hypersonic-

(8) “The Golden Fleet’s Battleship Will Never Sail,”Commentary by Mark F. Cancian, Center for Strategic & InternationalStudies. December 23, 2025.https://www.csis.org/analysis/golden-fleets-battleship-will-never-sail#:~:text=That%20would%20imply%20a%20battleship,much%20as%20an%20aircraft%20carrier.