The navy has released some specs for the proposed Trump Class guided-missile battleship. Given my many hours of experience playing Sea Power: Naval Combat in the Missile Age, I figured I would give my thoughts.

::: spoiler Part 1 of 2

Background

Since the end of the Cold War the USN has sought to develop a class of guided-missile cruisers/destroyers to replace the retired Iowa Class BBs and the aging Ticonderoga Class cruisers. The consensus was reached that the shore bombardment capabilities of the BBs could be replaced by ship/submarine launched cruise missiles and air-launched precision guided missile. The USN has proposed four different classes of ships to fulfill these requirements to various degrees, all failed. The SC-21, CG(X), DDG(X) programs were proposed, but never got pass the drawing board. The Zumwalt Class destroyers, of which only 3 of the initially planned 32 have been built at extraordinarily high costs and all have taken a decade to go from being laid down to commissioning. Because of this, the US is still building Arleigh Burke Class Destroyers first launched in 1988, which with modern refits are still capable ships, but the USN is lacking a modern hull that can go blow for blow with modern PLAN ships.

Existing and Past Large(er) Guided-Missile Ships – An Overview

Kirov Class Battle Cruiser - Built by the Soviet Union starting in 1974 and now operated by the Russian Navy, of the four built, two are still in service. The Pyotr Velikiy* (Formerly the Yuri Andropov) is the only one currently active as the Admiral Nakhimov* (Formerly the Kalinin) recently completed her refit and is undergoing new sea trials before she can be accepted back into active duty. Their main armament is the 20 P-700 Granit anti ship missile (Which will likely be replaced by the P-800 Onixs) at the time of it's introduction, the P-700 was widely regarded to be the most lethal anti-ship missile system and was given the NATO reporting name of Shipwreck. They also carry 30 S-300F and 30 S-300FM surface-to-air missiles as well as 128 shorter range 3K95 Khinzal surface-to-air missiles. With a displacement of 24,000 tons unloaded and 28,000 tons unloaded, the Kirov Class are the largest guided missile cruisers ever built and the only non-aircraft carrier combat vessle to be powered by a nuclear reactor. Despite their age they can still pose a serious threat to US carrier groups.

*They were renamed after Imperial Russian naval figures following the triumph of the forces of reaction.

Ticonderoga Class Cruisers - Built from 1980 to 1994 for the USN. Of the 27 built, 7 are still active, but all are planned to be retired by 2029, most will still be in the reserve fleet for many years to come. They have a displacement of 9,600 long tons when fully loaded. Their main armament is the 122 Mark 41 VLS cells, which can carry the SM family of surface-to-air missiles or BGM-109 Tomahawk surface-to-surface missiles. The USS Vincennes, was responsible for the intentional downing of Iran Air Flight 655, killing all 290 passengers and crew. The USS Gettysburg was responsible for shooting down an F/A-18F Super Hornet in the Red Sea during the US aggression on Ansar Allah and Yemen.

Type-055 Destroyer - Built for the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), the Type-055 class of destroyers are the largest guided-missile ships deployed by the PLAN. The first ship of the class, the Nanchang was first laid down in 2014 and commissioned in 2020, since then an additional seven have been commissioned and a further 4 are under construction, with a further 4 planned for a total of 16. They are designated as Renhai Class Cruisers by the USN because they are large multi-mission ships with flag facilities and to milk more money from the budget. They have a displacement of 11,000 long tons, about 4,500 tons smaller than the Zumwalt Class Destroyers, but much of the Zumwalt's tonnage goes towards useless bullshit, so it all evens out in the end. The Type-055's main armament is it's 112 GJB 5860-2006 VLS cells, which can deploy HHQ-9 long range surface-to-air missiles, YJ-18 anti-ship cruise missiles, and CJ-10 land-attack cruise missiles. They also carry 24 HHQ-10 as point defense missiles. The type-055 incorporates stealth features designed to reduce its radar cross section and the infrared signature from the smokestack. Personally, I am skeptical of how useful stealth on ship is with the proliferation of satellite reconnaissance and autonomous targeting, but I’m sure people who know more can explain its usefulness. The Zunyi in March of this year was part of a task force which conducted live fire exercises in international waters in the Tasman Sea.

Zumwalt Class Destroyer – Many are calling it the navy’s largest boondoggle; many others are calling it their largest boondoggle as of yet. The first ship of the class, the USS Zumwalt was laid down in 2011 and commissioned in 2016 but wasn’t accepted into service until 2020. The second ship, the Michael Monsoor also took 10 years to commission and the third ship, the Lyndon B. Johonson is planned to commission in 2027, after it was laid down in 2017. With a displacement of 15,500 long tons, they are the largest surface combat ships operated by the USN since the Battleship Missouri was retired in 1992. For its main armament, the Zumwalt Class features 80 MK 57 VLS cells, which has backwards compatibility with missiles designed for MK 41 VLS cells used on most other USN ships. They were equipped with the 155mm Advanced Gun System, which has a possible range of up to 150km using rocket assisted shells, the problem is that each shell cost over a million dollars and the Navy canceled procurement in 2016, so the guns are practically useless and are supposedly going to be replaced with hypersonic missile launch systems, which I assume means additional VLS cells, but I haven’t found any reliable information. The hull is designed for stealth and supposedly has a radar cross section comparable to a ‘fishing boat,’ the problem is that if I am a radar operator for the PLAN, a fishing boat moving at 30knts is rather suspicious. They are powered by 4 Rolls-Royce gas turbines capable of creating 78MW. Outfitted with an integrated power system which allows the engines to provide power to the ship’s propulsion and systems. This would potentially power a future rail gun, but I’ll get into railguns in the next section. In total the program cost over 25 billion dollars ($5 billion per ship not counting R&D costs), and delivered a total of 3 ships, with less VLS cells than a new Arleigh Burke which costs half the price.