Subject: Re: Those Trump Class "Battleships"

I cannot imagine how this ever happens. Trump is trying to set naval strategy based on nostalgia,

Set policy based on size envy. The Soviets built the Kirov class in the 70s and 80s. The "Trump" is an update of the Kirov class.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

The concept is not entirely without merit. General Van Riper, 20 years ago, showed how a mass attack by cruise missiles or drones can easily overwhelm a carrier group's defenses. A larger hull can accommodate more armament. There is a name, which slips my mind at the moment, for the mathematical rule that states that internal volume increases at a greater rate than the increase in overall size of a ship. The Kirov has a three layer SAM armament, a mix of long, medium, and short range missiles, as well as several CIWS mounts. That dense of a defense could raise the bar on how large a mass attack would need to be to saturate the defenses. What I don't see in the specs for the Kirov is a large capacity for launching chaff.

The next question is how to pay for it? What to take away from the Proles, to pay for the ships, after giving more tax cuts to the "JCs"? The thought crossed my mind: funding it by public subscription. The Grifter in Chief has been hawking Bibles, sneakers, watches, guitars, and other assorted garbage, for years. Now he can offer the clueless a "chance to make American sea power great" by paying for his latest monument to himself. I have seen numbers in the $5B range per ship. Lessee....77M votes in 24, that's only a $65 "donation" by every Trump voter. That is cheap,buy Trump crap standards. Then add in all the "donations" by school children in red states.

Will they actually be built? Considering the track record of recent USN programs: Zumwalt, LCS, Constellation, I expect Billions to be spent on "development", and maybe some steel cut, before it's cancelled, and the "donations" disappear into his nibs' pocket.

Steve