Trump Unveils 'Golden Fleet' With New Battleships and Frigates, Huntington Ingalls Emerges as Clear Winner

December 23, 2025 · by Fintool Agent

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President Donald Trump announced a sweeping overhaul of U.S. naval shipbuilding Monday, unveiling plans for new "Trump-class" battleships and a replacement frigate program—both of which will flow through Huntington Ingalls Industries-0.56%, cementing America's largest military shipbuilder as the prime beneficiary of the administration's "Golden Fleet" initiative.

The announcements cap a dramatic month for naval shipbuilding. On November 25, the Navy cancelled its troubled Constellation-class frigate program after years of delays and $1.5 billion in cost overruns. Less than a month later, the service has pivoted to an entirely new approach—one that prioritizes "speed to delivery" over technological ambition, and hands HII a dominant role in reshaping the surface fleet.

HII shares rose on the news, extending gains that began when the Navy selected Ingalls Shipbuilding for the new FF(X) frigate program on December 19. 1

The Trump-Class Battleship: Largest Warships in Decades

Speaking at Mar-a-Lago on Monday, Trump framed his eponymous battleships as a centerpiece of American naval renewal. "They'll be the fastest, the biggest and by far, 100 times more powerful," Trump said. "We're desperately in need of ships." 2

Construction of two Trump-class vessels will begin "almost immediately," with the administration's stated goal of eventually fielding 20 to 25 of the ships. The battleships will be built as enhanced versions of the Navy's Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and will carry nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missiles, according to Navy Secretary John Phelan.

The first ship, USS Defiant, positions the new class as the Navy's answer to critics who have questioned whether the United States can match China's shipbuilding pace.

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FF(X): The Frigate Replacement That Died and Rose Again

Four days before the battleship announcement, Phelan unveiled the FF(X) program—a new frigate class based on HII's proven Legend-class National Security Cutter design, built for the Coast Guard. The selection hands Ingalls Shipbuilding the lead role in constructing what the Navy describes as a "highly adaptable vessel" for surface warfare, payload transport, and unmanned systems operations. 1

"President Trump and the Secretary of War have signed off on this as part of the Golden Fleet," Phelan said. "Our goal is clear: launch the first hull in the water in 2028."

The decision represents a dramatic pivot from the Constellation-class program, which had been plagued by design creep since construction began in 2022. What was meant to share 85% of its design with the European FREMM frigate ended up sharing just 15%, according to a Government Accountability Office report. The first ship, originally due in 2026, had slipped to 2029. 2

Under terms negotiated with Fincantieri, the Wisconsin shipyard will complete USS Constellation (FFG-62) and USS Congress (FFG-63), but the remaining four ships on contract have been cancelled. Fincantieri has already begun layoffs—93 positions in early December, with the company warning it must "balance the size and composition of our workforce with the projected workload." 3

Why It Matters: The Shipbuilding Gap

The urgency behind the Golden Fleet initiative is no secret. China's People's Liberation Army Navy has surpassed the U.S. in total ship count—over 400 vessels versus roughly 290—and is commissioning new destroyers and frigates at a pace American shipyards cannot match.

"Recent operations from the Red Sea to the Caribbean make the requirement undeniable: our small surface combatant inventory is a third of what we need," Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Daryl Caudle said in announcing the FF(X) program. 4

The Navy currently has a requirement for 73 small surface combatants. With the Littoral Combat Ship program winding down and the Constellation-class cancelled, the service faces a genuine capability gap that the FF(X) and Trump-class programs are designed to fill.

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HII's Financial Position

Huntington Ingalls Industries-0.56% enters this moment from a position of strength. The company is America's only builder of aircraft carriers, sole builder of large-deck amphibious assault ships, and one of two builders of surface combatants for the Navy. 1

*Values retrieved from S&P Global

The company's Q1 2025 earnings call highlighted its target of exceeding $50 billion in new awards across 2025 and 2026, with revenue projected to reach $15 billion by 2030. 12 The Golden Fleet announcements suggest that target may prove conservative.

HII currently has contracts for 10 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, three amphibious assault ships under construction, and participation in the Columbia-class nuclear submarine program through a teaming agreement with General Dynamics Electric Boat. 13

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What It Means for Defense Peers

The Golden Fleet initiative creates winners and losers across the defense industrial base:

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The Political Dimension

The administration's moves carry unavoidable political overtones. Naming a class of warships after the sitting president is unprecedented in modern naval history—battleships have traditionally honored states, and the Navy's naming conventions reserve presidential names for aircraft carriers.

More substantively, the decision to concentrate frigate and battleship work at HII's Mississippi and Virginia shipyards—while Wisconsin's Marinette Marine absorbs layoffs—has drawn criticism from Wisconsin lawmakers.

"If the Trump administration insists on building a new frigate, then I call on the Navy to uphold its promise to Wisconsin's shipyards, communities, and workers and ensure that some of these ships are built here in Wisconsin," Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) said in a statement. 1

The Navy has indicated it will pursue a "lead yard and competitive follow-on strategy for multi-yard construction," suggesting other shipyards could eventually participate—but the initial contracts flow to HII.

What to Watch

Near-term milestones:

• Details on Trump-class specifications and initial contract awards
• Congressional appropriations to fund the new programs (the Navy is seeking to reallocate unspent Constellation-class funds)
• 2028 target for first FF(X) hull launch

Structural questions:

• Whether the Trump-class design can avoid the cost and schedule overruns that plagued Ford-class carriers and Constellation-class frigates
• How aggressively the Navy will ramp procurement rates to close the gap with China
• The fate of Fincantieri Marinette Marine's workforce as Constellation work winds down

Investment implications:

• HII's revenue and backlog trajectory over the next 3-5 years
• Defense prime valuations relative to the scope of the naval buildup
• Supply chain constraints as multiple major shipbuilding programs compete for labor and materials

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Related

• Huntington Ingalls Industries (hii)-0.56% — America's largest military shipbuilder
• General Dynamics (gd)-0.83% — Bath Iron Works and Electric Boat parent
• Lockheed Martin (lmt)-0.89% — Aegis combat systems integrator
• Northrop Grumman (noc)-0.76% — Defense systems and components
• RTX Corporation (rtx)-0.33% — Missile and radar systems supplier