President Trump announced yesterday that the Navy would be fielding a new “Trump-class” battleship as the centerpiece of his planned “Golden Fleet.” Set aside those silly names, which obviously serve Trump’s insatiable hubris. Behind them is the most momentous effort to modernize the U.S. Navy’s aging force structure in decades.
The surest way to get a good policy idea by the president is to let him name it. (Call missile defense “Golden Dome,” for instance. Can we get a “Golden Anti-Electromagnetic Pulse System” next?) Trump’s “Golden Fleet” plan is, in fact, made up of ideas that have long been popular among military wonks in conservative policy circles. The crux of the proposal is that, in an era of great-power competition spanning multiple theaters, the Navy requires a more nimble fleet consisting of ships that are greater in number, quicker and cheaper to produce, and easier to replace in wartime.
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