Still want to engage in a military arms race with the Chinese Navy? According to the latest information released by the U.S. Congressional Budget Office: the lead ship of the Trump-class battleship costs as high as $23.4 billion, while the average cost of the remaining 14 ships is around $18 billion each. At this price point, it would be dozens of times more expensive than China's Type 055 destroyer. The general estimate puts the cost of China's 055 at approximately 6 billion RMB, or about $800 million.
So how powerful is the configuration of such an exorbitantly priced Trump-class battleship? It has a full-load displacement of 50,000 tons, nuclear-powered propulsion, 128 MK-41 vertical launch cells (compared to China’s 055 with 112 large-diameter 850mm vertical launch cells), four hypersonic missile launch tubes, one electromagnetic railgun, an upgraded version of the SPY-6 radar system, laser weapons, and more. Of course, these are theoretical design specifications and do not necessarily reflect actual performance or capabilities once built.
In reality, it remains questionable whether U.S. shipyards can even meet the design requirements. Shipbuilding projects in the United States routinely face delays exceeding 80%, with construction costs rising by over 50%. Furthermore, the construction timeline for the Trump-class battleship would take at least ten years—far longer than Donald Trump’s two-year presidential term. If the Democrats regain power in 2028, there’s no telling whether this entire Trump battleship project might be scrapped outright. Thus, Trump’s strategy of mass-producing these battleships to keep the U.S. Navy ahead of China and maintain global naval supremacy is likely to fail.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1872757796707338/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone.