A renewed Russian effort to return its Admiral Nakhimov battlecruiser to service could spur Trump to push harder for his namesake class of battleships.

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have a well-known affinity for each other—and a certain similarity in their preferred style of leadership. The two world leaders each attempt to project a “strongman” image, built around populist politics and a desire to challenge traditional global norms. Each is known for a dominant personal presentation and projects themselves as the sole authority capable of fixing their respective nation’s decline.

Both Trump and Putin have also called for strong militaries, and each has used the idea of a glorious past to shape their political goals. That may explain why both leaders emphasize visual strength through high-profile defense projects, notably including huge warships.

The Coming Battle over the Trump-Class Battleship

For President Trump, that has included proposing a flotilla of enormous new nuclear-powered battleships—named, somewhat predictably, for himself. These battleships would be armed with advanced (and unproven) new weapons, including an electromagnetic railgun, high-energy lasers, optical dazzling indirector systems, and rolling airframe missile (RAM) launchers, along with missile launchers for long-range hypersonic boost-glide missiles.

Trump has called for the new class of nuclear-powered battleships to project dominant global power, and to replace what he views as an obsolete naval design philosophy with massive, intimidating capital ships. On the flip side, critics have warned that such large ships would be expensive to build and fairly easy to target, and that the Navy’s focus should be on a fleet of smaller but more attritable uncrewed vessels.

This spring, Congress essentially proverbially “sank” Trump’s battleships, with lawmakers blocking funding for the Trump class until the United States Navy can provide assurances that the key weapons have reached a “sufficiently mature technology readiness level.”

Trump has not been deterred. Last week, the White House formally registered a complaint in response to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) that the development of the battleships was being held up.

“The Administration strongly opposes any reporting requirements that delay the Battleship program without supporting national security requirements,” the White House wrote in a
statement.

Has Russia Finally Fixed Its Admiral Kuznetsov Battlecruiser?

Russia’s Putin has a similar view of large warships, which the Kremlin has maintained are necessary to show Russian might on the global stage. At a meeting with Russian Navy servicemembers this month, the longtime Russian leader renewed calls for large capital ships—even as last year it finally ended the attempts to modernize its only remaining aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov.

“But when it comes to large warships, they will remain the backbone of the Navy. I am not even referring to nuclear-powered submarines carrying long-range intercontinental missile systems, but also to surface combatants, including frigates, cruisers and others,” Putin said, according to Russian state media outlet TASS.

Earlier this month, the Russian Navy’s nuclear-powered Kirov-class battlecruiser Admiral Nakhimov—the world’s largest non-aircraft carrier surface combatant—reportedly concluded its latest sea trials. The warship, which was first commissioned into the Soviet Navy under the name Kalinin in 1988, arrived at the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk in 1999 after sitting inactive following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

In the fall of 2025, Russian shipbuilder Sevmash, which has been overseeing the refit and subsequent sea trials, announced that the tests would be concluded by the end of the year. That date came and went without completion of the tests; it is unclear if the Admiral Nakhimov is ready to return to service yet as of mid-2026.

One reason for the delay has been the ongoing war in Ukraine, which has dragged on for more than four years and accomplished few of the Kremlin’s aims. The Russian Navy in particular has played a secondary role in the conflict; despite lacking a navy of its own, Ukraine was able to destroy a significant portion of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet using missiles and drones, most notably its flagship Moskva in April 2022. Facing severe international sanctions and Ukrainian strikes on its all-important oil infrastructure, the Kremlin has had few resources available to the Russian Navy in other parts of the world.

However, the Admiral Nakhimov’s problems long predate the war. After more than 27 years offline, the battlecruiser would easily set the record for the longest refit. Other warships—notably the United States Navy’s four gargantuan Iowa-class battleships—were returned to service after decades of inactivity, but the Russian battlecruiser was never officially placed in the reserve fleet.

A Battleship Isn’t a Good Idea for Trump Just Because Putin Is Doing It

The Admiral Nakhimov’s last operational voyage was in July 1997. Two years later, it was towed to the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk for a planned refit. Years went by with little to no activity, and even now, it could be questioned whether the ship has been truly modernized. It is notable that parts of the overhaul were completed between 2014 and 2015, meaning the “modern combat systems” that were installed at the time are now more than a decade old.

However, as far as Putin is concerned, that may not matter. For now at least, the Russian leader can lay claim to the closest thing to a battleship in service, no matter how effective it really is. That may, in turn, make Trump renew his call to build his own warships, even if doing so would be the wrong course for the US Navy.

About the Author: Peter Suciu

Peter Suciu has contributed to dozens of newspapers, magazines and websites over a 30-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a contributing writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: Editor@nationalinterest.org.

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