The christening of the future USS Idaho, a Virginia-class attack submarine, at General Dynamics Electric Boat shipyard facility in Groton, Conn., on March 16, 2024. (Joshua Karsten/U.S. Navy)
President Donald Trump is calling for what he says is the largest American shipbuilding surge since World War II, according to the 2027 defense budget proposal released Friday.
“The whole of the nation’s shipbuilding order of 41 ships alone represents the largest demand signal to the maritime industrial base since the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt,” said an Office of Management and Budget statement in the budget proposal.
Trump is proposing $1.5 trillion in defense spending for 2027 — a 42% spike above 2026 levels. Trump would offset the increased military spending with an approximate 10% cut in nonmilitary programs.
The 41-ship plan calls for Congress to spend $65.8 billion on construction of 18 battle-force ships and 16 non-battle force Navy ships, five vessels for the Coast Guard and Army, a new scientific research ship and a National Park service ferry.
In the 2026 budget, the Navy was allocated $27.2 billion to build 17 ships.
Detailed plans for the Navy’s 2027 spending on specific vessels aren’t expected until the release of Trump’s more detailed Pentagon budget, which is expected April 21, according to published reports.
But the 2027 “top line” budget released Friday mentions several key projects Trump wants to push forward, including the Navy “Golden Fleet,” featuring two “Trump-class” battleships armed with advanced missiles, lasers, and other weaponry.
The Golden Fleet would also include next-generation Navy frigates, to be built as up-armed variants of the current Legend-class Coast Guard National Security Cutters design.
The cutter-inspired frigate design replaces the terminated Constellation-class frigate program. The Navy had planned to buy up to 20 of the frigates from Fincantieri Marinette Marine. But the program was shelved by the Trump administration after delays and cost overruns. The construction will end with the two ships currently being built — the USS Constellation and the USS Congress.
The proposed 2027 budget would maintain or increase procurement of “existing battle force platforms,” with the priorities including amphibious assault vessels, Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines and Virginia-class attack submarines.
“As waters around the world become increasingly contested, it is imperative that the United States be able to efficiently deliver the various naval platforms it requires to ensure maritime domain awareness and deterrence,” the budget document states.
The budget would support the construction of strategic sealift vessels, hospital vessels, cargo ships and tankers.
It calls for increasing the capacity of public shipyards and improving the manufacturing chain to speed up the delivery of vessels. The repair capacity of public shipyards also would be increased.
The statement accompanying the budget proposal said the naval build-up would be faster than the Cold War-era funding of the 1980s under President Ronald Reagan.
The funding request is for “a level that recognizes the current global threat environment and restores the readiness and lethality of our forces,” the statement said.
The Republican chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees described the $1.5 trillion top line as a “historic” investment in countering adversaries around the globe and said they were committed to passing the proposed budget into law.
“This bold commitment provides the resources needed to rebuild American military capability and confront those challenges head-on,” Rep. Mike Rogers, of Alabama, and Sen. Roger Wicker, of Mississippi, said in a joint statement.
Democrats in Congress, however, said they opposed the size of the Trump budget proposal and the plan to pay for additional ships, arms and other military spending by cutting domestic programs.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., vice-chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, called the Trump defense spending plan “reckless.”
“Donald Trump might be happy to spend more money on bombs in the Middle East than on families here in America — but I am not.”
