Trump's new battleship will be named after him, of course (if it's ever built), but it should be called the Vasa II.

[Ocelot II]

"The Vasa was built on the orders of the King of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus as part of the military expansion he initiated in a war with Poland-Lithuania (1621–1629). It was constructed at the navy yard in Stockholm under a contract with private entrepreneurs in 1626–1627 and armed primarily with bronze cannons cast in Stockholm specifically for the ship. Richly decorated as a symbol of the king's ambitions for Sweden and himself, upon completion she was one of the most powerfully armed vessels in the world. However, Vasa was dangerously unstable, with too much weight in the upper structure of the hull. Despite this lack of stability, she was ordered to sea and sank only a few minutes after encountering a wind stronger than a breeze." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa_(ship)

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. MaddowBlog-Trump names battleship class after himself, advancing his personalization crusade

Sticking his name on everything is especially difficult to defend as it so plainly does little to meet the nation’s needs.

The personalization of government is advancing at ridiculous speeds:
- Trump-class battleships
- Trump’s name added to Kennedy Center, Institute for Peace
- legal-tender coin featuring Trump’s face (on both sides)
- Trump Gold Cards
- Trump Accounts
- F-47 fighter jets
- 47-day ICE training

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-12-23T14:04:44.654Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-names-battleship-class-after-himself-advancing-his-personalization-crusade

It’s hardly a secret that Donald Trump desperately wants to apply his name to things, but the president cares nearly as much about adding the word “gold” to assorted labels. Just in the course of the past year, for example, we’ve seen him emphasize everything from “Gold Cards” to a “Golden Dome” to a “Golden Age” for the nation. (Never mind the shiny curlicues he’s slapped up all over the Oval Office.)

Once in a great while, though, the Republican finds a way to check both boxes simultaneously. My MS NOW colleague Erum Salam reported:

The United States will build new ‘Trump-class’ battleships as part of a ‘Golden Fleet,’ President Donald Trump announced Monday. […]

‘They’ll be the fastest, the biggest and by far 100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built,’ Trump said at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. He was joined by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Navy Secretary John Phelan and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

So, on the one hand, we’re talking about a fleet that joins the president’s “golden” list while, on the other, Trump is also naming a class of battleships after himself. The White House promoted illustrations of the unbuilt ships featuring an emblem that centers Trump with a raised fist — a detail that reinforces concerns that this is less about national security and more about self-aggrandizement and self-glorification on the part of the president.

Trump Class battleship illustration, as released by the White House.

— Steve Herman (@newsguy.bsky.social) 2025-12-22T22:55:14.884Z

For those keeping score, Trump and his allies have now applied his name to the Kennedy Center and the Institute of Peace, unveiled a commemorative legal-tender coin that that will feature his face on both sides and launched “Trump Gold Cards” and “Trump Accounts.” By some accounts, the president wants the upcoming White House ballroom to be named after him, too.

But wait, there’s more. Trump wants a football stadium in the nation’s capital to be named after him; the nation’s next-generation fighter jet will have an F-47 designation in honor of him (he is the nation’s 47th president); and training for incoming Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents was reduced from 50 days to 47 days for the same reason.

We are witnessing the personalization of the American government in real time, and it’s advancing at ridiculous speeds (and in ridiculous directions).....

Montgomery said the new frigate has “zero tactical use” and that officials appear to be “focused on the president’s visual that a battleship is a cool-looking ship.”

This isn’t how a global superpower is supposed to function. The administration’s plan is moving forward anyway.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. Here are some previews/concepts for trump's new battleship

The internet has been hard at work coming up with designs for trump's new battleships

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[Ocelot II]

3. The memers are having a field day!

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. I can give you another - Henry V's 'Grace Dieu', biggest in world,obsolete by the time it was finished, only sailed once

Estimates of her weight range between 1,400 tons and 2,750 tons. Two smaller ships, Valentine and Falcon, were built to escort her. A dock was specially built for her construction near Town Quay in Southampton.

The remains of Grace Dieu suggest that she was built in a hurry, with some of the planks and ribs left only roughly finished. She was a vast ship requiring 2,735 oak, 1,145 beech, and 14 ash trees for her timbers.
...
Grace Dieu was designed for use in battle against Genoa's formidable fleet of carracks, that city being at the time the ally of France and enemy of England. To this end she was built with high sides and a prow that rose more than 50 ft (15.24 m), so that her archers could shoot from above into the much lower carracks that she would run alongside. However, by the time she was completed England had firm control over the Channel and was at peace with France following the Treaty of Troyes.

Grace Dieu and her escorts appear to have only set sail once, in 1420, under the command of the Earl of Devon and with orders to make a cruise down the English Channel. The expedition suffered a mutiny even before leaving port, when the crew objected to the presence of a contingent of soldiers and archers brought aboard to guard the vessel. Grace Dieu's sailors attempted to prevent the soldiers from boarding by abusing the clerk who was registering their names and threatening to throw the register into the sea. When the ship finally left port, nine of the crew incited a further mutiny against the captain by refusing to take their stations and insisting that the cruise be abandoned. Grace Dieu was brought into the nearest port, St. Helen's on the Isle of Wight, and the crew departed. A clerk who questioned their loyalty as they departed was assaulted and had his clothing torn.

When Henry V died in 1422 his ships were treated as his private property rather than as part of the kingdom's navy. Many were sold off to pay his debts.
...
Subsequently, Grace Dieu was laid-up in the River Hamble. Already dismasted and stripped of equipment, she was burnt to the waterline after being set ablaze by a bolt of lightning in 1439.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Dieu_%28ship%29

Southampton to St. Helens is about 20 miles.