Speaking virtually to U.S. service members from Mar-a-Lago on Thanksgiving, President Donald Trump said he personally influenced the design of new Coast Guard ships, explaining his involvement by saying, “I’m a looks person.”
The comments came as the United States moves to expand and modernize its maritime law enforcement fleet amid China’s growing naval and coast guard presence across the Pacific.
Why It Matters
Trump’s remarks followed the U.S. Coast Guard’s recent decision to exercise a $507 million contract option with Bollinger Shipyards in Louisiana. The funding covers initial construction of 10 Sentinel-class fast response cutters, part of a broader effort to upgrade the fleet and expand its operational reach.
China now fields both the world’s largest navy and coast guard by hull count, according to a Pentagon assessment, giving Beijing significant leverage in waters far beyond East Asia. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy has more than 370 operational ships and submarines, and the China Coast Guard deploys over 150 vessels larger than 1,000 tons.
The Sentinel-class fleet currently includes 59 active vessels and is projected to grow to 77, with the first of the new ships expected to enter service in 2028. These cutters operate alongside a wider U.S. Coast Guard fleet of more than 250 ships.
What To Know
Addressing Coast Guard personnel and other service members on Thanksgiving, Trump said he intervened in the design of the new cutters.
“As you know, we’ve ordered a lot of Coast Guard cutters, brand new, beautiful, the best machines in the world,” he said. “The fastest, the best, the best maneuverability, they tell me. I said, ‘How’s the speed and the maneuverability?’”
“I’m a looks person,” Trump continued. “I wanted the hull to be perfect, I sort of redesigned the hull a little bit – the hulls – but we ordered a lot.”
He also told the group that additional icebreakers are on the way.
“We’re ordering ice breakers too,” he said. “We have 11 of them being built right now; we only had one.”
The administration has also finalized a multibillion-dollar deal with Finland to help build a new fleet of U.S. icebreakers aimed at strengthening America’s presence in the Arctic.
Trump has frequently made expansive or disputed claims about his personal role in government initiatives and public projects. He has previously said he coined the economic phrase “priming the pump,” popularized the term “fake news,” and was once honored as “Michigan’s Man of the Year,” an award journalists have been unable to verify.
Meanwhile, the Coast Guard is in the midst of its most significant recapitalization effort in decades, working to keep pace with China and Russia in both the Pacific and the Arctic as those nations rapidly increase their own naval and coast guard capabilities.
Who Actually Designs the Ships?
In practice, Coast Guard cutters and icebreakers are designed by teams of naval architects and engineers working within shipyards and under Coast Guard and Navy acquisition programs—not by the president.
Current designs for Arctic Security Cutters and Polar Security Cutters are being developed by U.S. shipbuilders and Finnish-led industrial consortia under long-term defense and infrastructure agreements.
What People Are Saying
Trump praised Coast Guard members for the difficult and dangerous work they perform at sea.
“The jobs you do, the ways you go into those seas, I wouldn’t want to do it,” he told them. “You want to do it, but I wouldn’t want to do it. So I thank you for that.”
The Coast Guard, in a press release issued on September 10, highlighted the strategic importance of expanding the fast response cutter fleet, saying: “Expanding the [fast response cutter] fleet continues the Coast Guard’s modernization through Force Design 2028, an initiative introduced by Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to transform the Coast Guard into a more agile, capable and responsive fighting force.”
What Happens Next
For the Coast Guard, the key questions are less about who receives credit for the cutters’ appearance and more about whether the new ships arrive on schedule, meet performance expectations, and help the United States keep pace with China and Russia in increasingly contested waters.
