Montana
The Trump-Class Battleship Might Just Be Another Montana-Class Battleship
Key Points and Summary – Trump’s newly announced Trump-class “Golden Fleet” recalls the U.S. Navy’s never-built Montana-class battleships: huge, heavily armed ships overtaken by changing strategy.
-In 1940, Montanas were conceived as super-battleships, but World War II quickly proved carriers, submarines, and escorts were more decisive, and the program was canceled before keels were laid.
Trump-Class Battleship. Image Credit: Creative Commons/White House.
-Today, Trump’s vision faces different but parallel constraints: hyper-partisan politics, tight shipbuilding capacity, and a fast-moving shift toward missiles, drones, and distributed fleets.
-The article argues the real lesson of Montana is that strategy and technology can outrun prestige platforms before they ever reach the water. History may be repeating itself.
Trump-Class Battleship Golden Fleet: Another Montana-Class?
In 1940, as war spread across Europe and tensions with Japan continued to rise in the Pacific, the U.S. Navy was still planning for a conflict in which heavily armed surface fleets would play a decisive role. Battleships remained central to American naval thinking, and Congress had just approved a significant expansion of the fleet under the Two-Ocean Navy Act.
Within that framework, Navy planners authorized a new class of battleships that would be larger, more heavily protected, and more powerfully armed than any the United States had previously built.
Designated the Montana-class, the ships were intended to represent the next step in battleship technology and capability at a moment when naval strategy itself was about to change significantly.
The program, however, never worked out as planned. In fact, none of the five planned Montana-class ships ever saw steel laid on a dock. The program was canceled before construction began, and the class never entered service. But why?
The answer isn’t precisely simple: it was a combination of shifting priorities, politics, and a total transformation in naval warfare that effectively made battleships strategically obsolete before they could even be built.
Trump-Class Battleship. Image Credit: Creative Commons/White House Photo.
As U.S. President Donald Trump announces plans for an entirely new class of battleships to form what he calls the “Golden Fleet,” the story of the Montana-class is well worth revisiting today.
The Montana-Class Vision and World War II
In the late 1930s and into the early 1940s, the U.S. Navy’s battleship force was undergoing its most ambitious expansion since World War I. Battleships like the North Carolina, South Dakota, and Iowa classes were designed or authorized after treaties capped armament and displacement. With treaty restrictions effectively ended and global conflict looming, the Navy chose to pursue a new class of super battleships – designated BB-67 through BB-71 – that would surpass even the formidable Iowa-class in terms of size and firepower.
The Montana-class was set to displace more than 60,000 tons, measure more than 920 feet in length, and carry twelve Mark 7 guns in four triple turrets – significantly more heavy guns than the nine on an Iowa-class ship. Armor protection was also made thicker and more extensive.
Congress authorized construction of the Montana-class as part of the Two-Ocean Navy Act of July 1940, which aimed to expand U.S. naval capabilities as war engulfed Europe and Asia. The intention was for these battleships to serve as the centerpiece of a powerful surface fleet capable of countering German and Japanese warships.
However, even as the designs were being confirmed and contracts authorized, larger strategic shifts were underway. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and the Pacific campaign that followed accelerated the prominence and demand for aircraft carriers. The Navy began to allocate resources differently, and shipyard capacity, steel, and manpower became limited during wartime. Ultimately, the need for Essex-class aircraft carriers, destroyer escorts, landing craft, and anti-submarine vessels became more urgent.
Battleship construction, even for the existing Iowa-class hulls, began to compete with these new priorities. And while the Montana design was impressive on paper, it was also slower than the Iowa class and incapable of keeping pace with fast carrier forces that were increasingly defining U.S. naval operations in the Pacific. That made the Montana less suitable for the evolving (and now primary) mission of fleet air defense and power projection.
Montana-Class Battleship vs. Iowa-Class. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Recognizing those realities, the Navy suspended work on the Montana project in mid-1942 before any keels were laid. At that point in the war, aircraft carriers had already proven decisive in major battles like Coral Sea and Midway, and naval planners were under intense pressure to prioritize ships that could be delivered quickly and used immediately in combat. Large battleships that would not enter service until 1945 or later no longer made any strategic sense.
By July 1943, the decision was made official, and the Montana class was formally cancelled.
The steel, manpower, and shipyard space allocated initially for the super battleships were instead redirected toward aircraft carriers, destroyers, submarines, and amphibious ships – platforms that were directly shaping the outcome of the war in both the Pacific and Atlantic theaters.
The cancellation, however, didn’t necessarily reflect a failure of the Montana design – though a case could be made that its speed was an issue – but rather a recognition that the role battleships had once played was disappearing faster than the ships could be built.
Image of Iowa-class battleship compared to Montana-class battleship that was never built. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Image is of an Iowa-class battleship. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
In 2025, as President Trump promises an entirely new class of battleships that the U.S. Navy itself acknowledges it needs, there are different issues to contend with.
Trump faces an uphill battle in terms of political partisanship, which threatens to veto (or at least rename) the ships if a Democrat wins in 2028.
In parallel, the changing nature of global combat and the increasing reliance by adversaries on automated systems, drones, and long-range missiles means that strategies and priorities seem to be changing by the year.
About the Author:
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society. His latest book is The Truth Teller: RFK Jr. and the Case for a Post-Partisan Presidency.
The Montana Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at July 9, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Big Sky Bonus numbers from July 9 drawing
08-21-24-29, Bonus: 16
Check Big Sky Bonus payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from July 9 drawing
02-15-22-54-58, Bonus: 04
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
When are the Montana Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 9 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Lucky For Life: 8:38 p.m. MT daily.
- Lotto America: 9 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Big Sky Bonus: 7:30 p.m. MT daily.
- Powerball Double Play: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Montana Cash: 8 p.m. MT on Wednesday and Saturday.
- Millionaire for Life: 9:15 p.m. MT daily.
Missed a draw? Peek at the past week’s winning numbers.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Great Falls Tribune editor. You can send feedback using this form.
A restraining order has been issued that blocks the Montana Republican Party from enacting new bylaws intended to drive nonconformists…
A restraining order has been issued that blocks the Montana Republican Party from enacting new bylaws intended to drive nonconformists out of the party ranks.
Lewis and Clark County District Judge Michael F. McMahon issued the restraining order Wednesday morning. The order had been requested by county precinct committees and officers suing the state party organization over the new bylaws. The plaintiffs are the Yellowstone County Republican Central Committee, the Choteau County Republican Central Committee, and individual committee members Jeff Essmann, Ted Kronebusch, James Wilson and state Rep. Brad Barker, R-Red Lodge.
At issue are bylaws passed during MTGOP’s June platform convention that the litigating party members say amount to “fraudulent and corrupt practices.” The new bylaws require members to pay $20 in annual membership dues and pledge a loyalty oath, and subject members to removal from elected party positions for nonpayment of dues or for “conduct deemed inconsistent with party purposes,” as determined by executive party party officers. The new bylaws allow charges for removal to be brought by any 20 official Republican Party members.
Montana Republican Party Chairman Art Wittich, the only official spokesperson for the state party, has not responded to voicemails and texts sent to his cell phone Wednesday. Wittich, elected party chairman in June 2025, has long been emphatic about exposing “Democrats disguised as Republicans” — for Wittich a now decade-old battle that spun into a bitter multimillion-dollar war between party hardliners and relative centrists in this spring’s Republican legislative primaries.
The centrists drew the ire of the hardliners in 2025 by collaborating with Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte and legislative Democrats to pass a balanced state budget and key pieces of legislation, including increased taxes on second homes and property tax reductions for primary residences and small businesses.
What constitutes disqualifying conduct isn’t fully spelled out in the bylaws, but they do specify that “collaborating with Democrats” in the Legislature, the governor’s office, the courts, or elections can get members disciplined or removed.
The lawsuit alleges that “The 2026 bylaws empower a small group within the party to revoke Republican affiliation from candidates or office holders, undoing primary nominations by the electorate.”
The plaintiffs argue that Montana voters, not party bylaws, should determine who represents the Republican Party in general elections and who represents voting precincts on the publicly elected county-level Republican committees that coordinate local political activity.
The Montana Legislature in 2019 passed a bill protecting publicly elected party precinct committee officers from being arbitrarily removed from office and defined attempts to do so as “fraudulent and corrupt practices.” That law, sparked by Republican Party infighting 10 years ago, is the foundation of the current lawsuit.
There has been a surge of public interest in Republican precinct-level politics following a perceived lack of support by party hardliners for Republican candidates in conservative strongholds like Flathead County, where more than 60 new precinct committeemen and committeewomen were elected in June. That wave of new officers was preceded by Flathead County Republican Central Committee members considering an endorsement of Libertarian Sid Daoud for Kalispell mayor over Republican Kisa Davison in late 2025. The Kalispell mayor’s race is nonpartisan, but Republicans have gone to court to secure the party’s right to endorse candidates in nonpartisan races.
Wittich’s own campaign for precinct committeeman representing Whitefish was a casualty of that new wave of public interest. He lost to Republican Giuseppe “G-man” Caltabiano, who serves on the Whitefish City Council.
Caltabiano’s wife, Roxanne Ross, defeated Candace Wittich, wife of the Republican chair, in the same election.
State law gives precinct officers two-year terms and specifies that they can be removed only for death, written resignation or loss of residency. The new bylaws state that participation in party governance, including service as a precinct official, “is a privilege of association, not a right conferred by public office or candidacy. Members must act in good faith to support the Party’s purpose and must not engage in conduct materially inconsistent with the Party’s interests, including conduct that undermines its platform, policy positions, election operations, or internal governance.”
The recent changes to the party bylaws allow precinct officeholders to be suspended from voting in party matters and replaced by party leadership for noncompliance. Empty precinct seats can be filled by the Republican Party chair.
“Every Republican candidate sells their version of Republicanism to the people in a primary campaign, and the voter chooses which version to buy,” the lawsuit states. “The party cannot dictate what brands of Republicanism are on the market.”
Former MTGOP chair Jeff Essmann, a plaintiff who is also a long-serving precinct officer, said in his affidavit that members of the Republican State Central Committee weren’t given a required notification about attempts to amend the bylaws. He said he would have attended the platform convention and argued against amending the bylaws if he had known.
“The 2026 Bylaws empower any twenty members of the Party to recommend any other member of the Party for expulsion from the party, to be determined by the State Central Committee, even people who do not reside in Yellowstone County and who have never met me,” Essmann said in the affidavit.
Other central committee members produced pre-convention emails about potential changes to the bylaws, but no details about the amendments.
In issuing the order, McMahon indicated that Republicans challenging the bylaws are likely to succeed. He set a July 13 hearing on whether to make the order permanent.
“Plaintiffs have shown a likelihood of success on the merits of their claims that the challenged provisions are inconsistent with Montana election law and constitutional protections governing candidacy, nomination, speech, association, due process, and elected precinct committee representatives,” McMahon ruled.
___
This story was originally published by Montana Free Press and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
Copyright
© 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
The Montana Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at July 8, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from July 8 drawing
12-29-37-43-55, Powerball: 18, Power Play: 4
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Lotto America numbers from July 8 drawing
17-26-31-32-37, Star Ball: 01, ASB: 02
Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Big Sky Bonus numbers from July 8 drawing
03-13-16-17, Bonus: 10
Check Big Sky Bonus payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Powerball Double Play numbers from July 8 drawing
06-27-33-44-69, Powerball: 23
Check Powerball Double Play payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Montana Cash numbers from July 8 drawing
08-16-17-22-27
Check Montana Cash payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from July 8 drawing
16-18-43-48-50, Bonus: 01
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
When are the Montana Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 9 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Lucky For Life: 8:38 p.m. MT daily.
- Lotto America: 9 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Big Sky Bonus: 7:30 p.m. MT daily.
- Powerball Double Play: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Montana Cash: 8 p.m. MT on Wednesday and Saturday.
- Millionaire for Life: 9:15 p.m. MT daily.
Missed a draw? Peek at the past week’s winning numbers.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Great Falls Tribune editor. You can send feedback using this form.
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