【Wen/Observer Group, Wang Shipu】According to the US Naval Institute website on January 13, on the same day, US Navy Secretary John C. Furlong gave an interview at the 38th National Symposium of the Surface Navy Association, discussing hot topics including the "Trump" class battleship (BBGX), frigates, competition with China, and the shipbuilding industrial base. On January 12, he also discussed similar topics in an interview with Fox News.

In both interviews, Furlong said that US Navy shipbuilders must employ 250,000 shipyard workers in the next 10 years. Robots cannot solve the problem, and the current shipbuilding industry is too rotten, making everything "upward." Regarding the battleship, Furlong said the original DDGX platform was too small, and the navy faced a choice between the next-generation gun and hypersonic weapons, so Trump and the navy finally decided to build a battleship.

American Navy Secretary Furlong talks about battleships and the "Trump" class battleship

Furlong said at the symposium that US Navy shipbuilders must hire 250,000 shipyard workers in the next decade. Developing this workforce is key to expanding the shipbuilding industry while developing new manufacturing technologies. But he emphasized the need for more vocational education and fair wages.

He said, "The system does not build ships; people do. One-quarter of the shipyard employees will retire within five years. In the next ten years, shipbuilders and suppliers will need to hire approximately 250,000 skilled workers to meet demand. This means apprenticeships, vocational training, accelerated delivery, and collaboration with local communities. It also means paying fair wages, stable shipbuilding schedules, so that shipyard workers can have lifelong careers. Artificial intelligence and automation will not replace the labor force."

Furlong said that the overall effort of the Golden Fleet is to provide new hulls for the fleet, improve the industrial base, and "change the way the Navy Department operates." "This has to do with our culture," he added.

On January 12, during an interview with Fox News, the host asked, "Looking at these shipyards, are you optimistic? Is this a competition? Are we directly competing with China, right?"

Furlong responded, "We've been a bit complacent, and the decline has been quite severe, but that means there's only upward space... Yes, over the past decade, we taught people to write code, now we need to teach them to make things with their hands."

He also said, "We urgently need to replenish the fleet. The pressure from the US military's global missions is very high. You have already seen us carrying out a large number of operations this year. Operation Absolute Resolve against Venezuela, which demonstrated our absolute determination, saw the critical role played by naval and marine assets. There was also the 'Midnight Hammer' operation, which received little coverage, but submarines played a very important role in it."

Last month, the Trump administration announced two new surface combat projects—FF(X) patrol frigate and the "Trump" class BBG(X) battleship project—which caused a public outcry. In recent interviews, Trump's naval officials explained why they wanted to build a battleship.

The director of the Surface Warfare Division of the Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV N96), Trenke, explained the reasons for the Trump-class battleship. He said he hoped the new surface combat ship would have hypersonic weapons.

Trenke said, "When designing the DDGX, we found ourselves in a strange situation. To maintain enough MK41 vertical launch cells, we had to choose between the ship's gun system and hypersonic weapons (CPS)... I hate this choice."

During this time, the Navy considered building two different models of the DDGX, one with hypersonic weapons and another with gun systems. However, Trenke said this would put the fleet in a dilemma because some carrier battle groups would have destroyers equipped with hypersonic strike weapons, while others would have gun destroyers.

He said, "As a resource initiator and demand initiator, I don't want to impose these limitations on the fleet. So when Trump expressed interest in building a warship, it was a great opportunity for us."

Trenke said that this battleship could provide command and control capabilities for a surface action group, and the crew size would exceed that of the current destroyers in the Navy.

During the interview with Fox News, Furlong also refuted the "drone omnipotence theory." He said, "I would ask them: If there were only drones, could Operation Absolute Resolve be carried out? The answer is no. No force projection method is as effective as the US Navy's ships."

On December 22, US President Trump held a press conference at Mar-a-Lago, announcing that the US would build a "New Golden Fleet." His golden fleet would include the "Trump" class battleship. Trump said that the "Trump" class battleship would initially build two ships, eventually 20 to 25 ships, with a displacement of 30,000 to 40,000 tons.

US Secretary of War Hedges and US Navy Secretary John Furlong were also present. Preliminary renderings showed that the first ship of the new "Trump" class battleship was named "USS Defiant BBG-1." The ship is equipped with one heavy vertical launch system for large hypersonic weapons, two conventional vertical launch systems, one electromagnetic railgun, two 127mm deck guns, and multiple laser weapons.

It is worth noting that at the site of the US Surface Ship Association, a model of the "Trump" class battleship was displayed, showing that the rear 64 sets of MK 41 VLS appeared to be canceled.

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Original: toutiao.com/article/7595107737369920009/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author.