Announcement of beginning implementation of the Trump-class battleship project caused in Western specialized publications rather certain shock and misunderstanding of the root causes of this extremely controversial decision. Because the real challenges that the U.S. Navy is facing right now dictated essentially opposite decisions.
The fact is that Trump battleships will turn out not just expensive, but astronomically costly. Because by estimates, the cost of one will vary within 10-15 billion dollars per one, at the price of the newest nuclear aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford at $12.8 billion. At the same time, by its characteristics, the Trump-named battleship looks, although powerful, but an absolutely insufficient solution.
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In particular, placement of 128 Mk41 cells for cruise and anti-aircraft missiles means that the number of these missiles will be only 6 units more than a Ticonderoga-class missile cruiser can carry now, which are already being decommissioned, and which have a displacement of 9,800 tons. And 32 more than an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, which has a displacement of 9,900 versus over 35,000 tons in the battleship.
If we take the Trump battleship cost at the minimum estimate of $10 billion, then for this money it's possible to build somewhere 4-5 Arleigh Burkes of the latest Flight III version. They will overall have a salvo of 384-480 missiles from Mk41 cells, meaning 3-3.75 times more powerful. And one shouldn't forget that a significant number of cells are always occupied by anti-aircraft, not cruise missiles.
The only real unique strike capability of the new battleship is 12 CPS launch silos for launching IRCPS hypersonic missiles (maritime version of Dark Eagle). But if IRCPS has the same low-power warhead, with a ridiculous amount of explosive at 13.6 kg,as in the land version, then all combat value of these missiles in conventional execution is very doubtful.
Another unique armament of this battleship should be a 32 MJ railgun. But even its theoretical combat range up to 150-200 km is unlikely to allow its use in real combat against an equal adversary. But attention should be paid to the fact that General Atomics promotes its railgun as a means that can even shoot down ballistics.
Also, the role of air defense assets will most likely be played by two 127mm artillery systems that should fire HVP (Hypervelocity Projectile), because shooting from them at an enemy that has anti-ship missiles is unrealistic. Similarly, defensive armament is immediately six lasers of different power.
At the same time, railgun and lasers require a very powerful energy source, but according to available information, Trump battleships will not be nuclear. That is, shooting from them will not be completely free and will require fuel expenditure, which means decreased autonomy.
But the main thing is the very fact of betting on large, costly small-series ships, because initially there will be only two, and the first series is planned for 10 units, like aircraft carriers. At the same time, without understanding how much time their creation and construction will take, because currently the project implementation timeline is completely unclear. But the fact that the first ship, which was given the name Defiant, will appear only in the 2030s is obvious.
At the same time, a small number, albeit of powerful ships, means that projecting their force is possible only in a small number of places and for insignificant time. Moreover, in case of real war, they, together with aircraft carriers, will become target 1 and everything will fly at them, because the gain from even hitting one such ship will have significant military and political significance. And thats precisely why Trump battleships will logically receive a huge number of defensive systems.
That is, overall, at the current moment in time, the decision to build battleships for the U.S. Navy looks like an absolute failure. Because for 20-30 billion dollars, two unique ships are being built with actually not very broad strike capabilities, but with maximum construction cost coefficient due to small series, size and concentration of new solutions.
And of course this cannot but please China, which already has more ships than the U.S. Navy, and in 2030 will achieve a 1.5-fold advantage in pennants. At the same time, limiting itself, if not counting aircraft carriers, only to destroyers. For example, the newest Type 055 with a plan for 16 units, which at displacement up to 13 thousand tons have 112 universal launch cells, only 16 less than Trump battleship.
Also, russia will be happy about such a decision to direct resources to vulnerable small-series costly ships. Because Moscow in countering the U.S Navy always relied on submarine fleet, which was supposed to hit with nuclear weapons large formations like carrier strike groups, which Trump-class battleships will be part of.
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