Bringing Back the Battleship? - Railguns, US Shipbuilding and a 35,000 ton bad idea?

Video Description

Sponsored by: Private Internet Access: https://www.piavpn.com/Perun I thought we were done with U.S. Shipbuilding for 2025, but one last announcement had to bring us back. And so, in what I promise is not a very early April episode, let's talk about Battleships (or rather, the battleship-sized multi-mission ship these things are apparently meant to be). Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PerunAU Reading and Sourcing (partial): Goldenfleet.navy.mil https://www.goldenfleet.navy.mil/ U.S. Govt - Announcement of Trump-class Battleship https://www.war.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/4366952/trump-announces-new-class-of-battleship/ CBO - An Analysis of the Navy’s 2025 Shipbuilding Plan https://www.cbo.gov/publication/60732 Navy FF(X) will not have VLS https://www.twz.com/sea/navys-new-frigate-will-not-have-vertical-launch-systems-for-missiles#:~:text=The%20U.S.%20Navy%20has%20confirmed,Vertical%20Launch%20System%20(VLS). IISS on Constellation Class https://www.iiss.org/online-analysis/military-balance/2025/12/constellation-consternation-frigate-decision-sets-us-navy-on-uncertain-new-course/ CRS - Navy DDG(X) Next-Generation Destroyer Program: Background and Issues for Congress https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IF11679 CSIS - The Golden Fleet’s Battleship Will Never Sail https://www.csis.org/analysis/golden-fleets-battleship-will-never-sail General Atomics pitches railguns missile defence https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2025/10/general-atomics-pitches-railgun-for-air-and-missile-defense/ Retirement of the Ohio SSGNs https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2024/03/retirement-of-ohio-class-ssgn-now-only-two-years-away/ Reporting on PLAN Railgun https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2019/04/chinese-navy-railgun-what-we-know-thus-far/ Type 55s entering service (2023) https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2023/04/china-now-has-8-type-055-destroyers-in-active-service/ Reporting on Germany LRMVs https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2025/09/large-remote-missile-vessels-german-navy-plans-to-procure-unmanned-arsenal-ships/ Japanese railgun test shots reporting https://www.twz.com/sea/japanese-warship-fires-railgun-at-target-vessel-for-the-first-time Railgun cancellation 2021 https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2021/07/01/us-navy-ditches-futuristic-railgun-eyes-hypersonic-missiles/ Examples of the ups and downs in F/A-XX Program https://www.twz.com/air/pentagon-all-in-on-air-forces-f-47-puts-navys-f-a-xx-on-ice https://www.twz.com/air/in-limbo-f-a-xx-naval-fighter-gets-full-funding-nod-from-congress OSD Comptroller on US Shipbuilding Capacity https://news.usni.org/2023/03/21/osd-comptroller-says-u-s-shipyards-cant-build-3-destroyers-a-year Caveats & Comments: Specially for this episode, I've added some additional caveats and thoughts to the pinned comment Beyond that, all normal caveats and comments apply. In particular – I would like to note as always that this material has been created for entertainment purposes and is not intended to be a complete or comprehensive examination of the topic in question and should not be relied upon to inform financial or other similar decisions. Any content relating to the conduct, views, activities or any aspect of any person or character in this video is included for entertainment purposes and does not represent an assertion of fact on those matters or any matters in relation to that person or character. Care has been taken in compiling data, quotes, and other inputs from various sources but errors can occur. Quotes and included data should be considered illustrative, not definitive and their veracity should not be relied on. Timestamps: 00:00:00 — Opening Words 00:01:57 — What Am I Talking About? 00:03:56 — Battleships 101 00:10:16 — This Design 00:22:16 — Railguns 00:25:13 — Risks and Issues 00:27:28 — Applied Defence Economics 00:36:47 — the Real Risk Here 00:52:36 — a Future Battleship? 01:05:47 — What Next? 01:08:09 — Channel Update