The Trump administration’s plan for the US Navy to build its largest battleships since World War II comes with a price tag of $275 billion, according to a new report from the Congressional Budget Office. Each of the 15 nuclear-powered surface combatants will cost more than $18 billion.

Budget and Capacity Concerns

The huge cost of the battleships is driving the Navy’s total procurement budget for surface combatants to increase by more than two-thirds – from $11 billion in 2025 to $18 billion in 2027. The report also notes that US shipyards may not have the capacity to build them.

The administration announced the battleships last December, with the president saying they would be fitted with advanced weapons and technology. The Navy has said the battleships would carry nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, making them the most powerful vessels in the US arsenal after its ballistic-missile submarines.

Challenges and Concerns

The CBO report raises questions about how building battleships at Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia would affect other programs that are already running into delays. The report also notes that the shipbuilding industry has been prone to delays and cost overruns.

Many analysts question whether money spent on battleships would be well-spent at a time when low-cost drones are increasingly effective in naval warfare. Retired Adm. James Stavridis wrote in a January op-ed for Bloomberg that putting lots of expensive weaponry and sailors on a single, potentially vulnerable platform doesn’t make sense.

Original reporting: El Paso News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.