Trump announces naval 'Golden Fleet'

President says plans for new warship are part of larger vision to make 'biggest' vessels.

- KONSTANTIN TOROPIN AND AAMER MADHANI

PRESIDENT Trump said he'll help design the ship because he is "very aesthetic."

(ALEX BRANDON Associated Press)

President Trump has announced a bold plan for the Navy to build a new, large warship that he is calling a "battleship" as part of a larger vision to create a "Golden Fleet.

"They'll be the fastest, the biggest, and by far 100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built," Trump claimed during the announcement at his Mara-Lago resort in Florida.

According to Trump, the ship, the first of which will be named the USS Defiant, will be longer and larger than the World War II-era Iowa-class battleships and will be armed with hypersonic missiles, nuclear cruise missiles, rail guns and high-powered lasers - all technologies that are in various stages of development by the Navy.

The announcement comes just a month after the Navy scrapped its plans to build a new, small warship, citing growing delays and cost overruns, deciding instead to go with a modified version of a Coast Guard cutter that was being produced until recently. The sea service has also failed to build its other newly designed ships, like the new Ford-class aircraft carrier and Columbia-class submarines, on time and on budget.

Meanwhile the Navy has struggled to field some of the technologies Trump says will be aboard the new ship.