Senior officials from the White House and the US Navy are in the early stages of talks to replace the current warships with a new "Golden Fleet", writes "Wall Street Journal". The leading business publication cited former and current officials.
US President Donald Trump has called for ships that are better able to counter threats coming from China and potentially elsewhere in the future.
The new fleet will include several larger warships equipped with more powerful long-range missiles, smaller ships such as corvettes and a new class of frigates.
The Trump administration and the US Department of Defense are also in the early stages of talks to build a "new generation heavily armored ship" that would weigh between 15,000 and 20,000 tons and be equipped with more powerful weapons, such as potentially hypersonic missiles.
The US president has previously said he would expand the Navy by at least 19 ships by 2026 as part of $1 trillion investment in the military.