First Trump battleship will cost more than $17 billion

Driving the news: John Phelan, who up until last week was the U.S. Navy secretary, told reporters the dollar figure is an "early, initial estimate."

• "We'll see where we really settle down, as we get through that and start to rationalize some of the costs," he said on the sidelines of the Sea-Air-Space conference in Maryland.
• "We've been talking to two different vendors ... and then it'll be a function of how we get through that design process with them and then their capacity in their yards."

Friction point: The U.S. struggles to build and maintain its current warships. Take, for example, the USS Boise, which the Navy pulled the plug on after it sat pier-side for about a decade.

• Additional demand could tax public and private yards.

• "We are looking at a couple of different ways to relieve some of the pressure that might put on the industrial base," Phelan said. "I think we have to still define that a little bit more."

The intrigue: The Navy is still debating whether to make the battleship nuclear powered.

Zoom in: Preliminary specs published by the service show the battleship armed to the teeth — laser turrets, a railgun, as well as room for hypersonic and nuclear weapons — and manned by at least 650 sailors.

What's next: Construction is expected in 2028.

Go deeper: Pete Hegseth fires U.S. Navy Secretary John Phelan