Trump's proposed Golden Fleet could cost up to $275 billion: CBO

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the proposed fleet of 15 nuclear-powered battleships could become the most expensive US warship programme ever undertaken

By Tony Capaccio

 

President Donald Trump’s so-called Golden Fleet of around 15 nuclear-powered battleships could cost as much as $275 billion to develop and acquire through 2056, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.  

The agency pegged its preliminary estimate at $23 billion for the first vessel and roughly $18 billion each for the subsequent 14 ships, according to a report released Wednesday. 

 

That would make them the most expensive American warships ever produced, and it’s possible the Trump-class vessels will see additional cost overruns while potentially complicating the construction of other US vessels. 

 

“Those estimates are highly uncertain and rely on CBO’s assessments of the ship’s design and the overall battleship program,” according to the report.

 

 

If the preliminary estimates hold, the vessels would be even costlier than the $13.2 billion USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier, the most expensive US warship ever built.  

The lead vessel of a new class of warships has also historically cost much more than planned, with the Ford seeing an overrun of almost $3 billion from its original estimated price tag.

 

The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest cost estimate for the battleship fleet.

 

The Trump-class battleship program is so associated with the current president that it’s likely to be one of the top defense programs targeted for cancellation if Republicans lose control of the House of Representatives in November midterm elections. The decades-long program is even more at risk if a Democrat is elected president in 2028.

 

Senator Jeff Merkley, the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee who requested the CBO review, said in a statement that “at a time when families are struggling to afford groceries, gas, health care and child care, Congress cannot throw hundreds of billions of dollars at Trump’s Golden Fleet, including plastering his name across a new battleship.”

 

Still, based on its current specifications — which include hypersonic missiles, nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and laser weapons — the battleship “would add considerable firepower to the Navy’s fleet,” the CBO said.

 

The battleship’s construction will be complicated because of nuclear power. Neither of the Navy’s top surface warfare shipbuilders — Maine-based Bath Iron Works Corp. or Ingalls Shipbuilding Inc. in Mississippi — is “certified by the Navy to perform nuclear power-related work in ship construction,” the watchdog said.

 

While “many shipyards — especially Bath and Ingalls — would be involved in building parts and modules for the battleship,” senior Navy officials recently told Congress final assembly would be performed by Virginia-based Newport News Shipbuilding Inc., the CBO noted.

 

It’s the only new-construction facility “already certified for work on nuclear-powered surface ships,” said CBO, reporting that final assembly would take place at the yard’s Dock 12, which is currently in use to build Ford-class aircraft carriers.

 

At the same time, CBO warned that Newport News Shipbuilding is already behind schedule on construction of three aircraft carriers, so “adding the final assembly of a nuclear-powered battleship to the shipyard’s workload could lengthen the delays for those programs, in addition to delaying the construction of the battleship itself.”