Navy Weighs Renaming Future Aircraft Carrier from Doris Miller to Trump
The US Navy is weighing whether to rename a future aircraft carrier currently designated to honor Black Pearl Harbor hero Doris Miller, with internal discussions including the possibility of naming it after President Donald Trump, CNN reported on August 20, 2026, citing three sources familiar with the matter. Two of those sources said conversations have specifically centered on renaming the carrier for Trump. The Guardian and USA Today confirmed the reporting on August 21, 2026, with USA Today noting the hull designation CVN-81 (The Guardian; USA Today).
The carrier was originally named for Doris Miller by Acting Navy Secretary Modly, per an official Navy press release published on navy.mil on January 19, 2020. That release described Miller as "Ship's Cook Third Class" and announced the future Gerald R. Ford-class carrier would bear his name. USA Today reported that the naming capped a decades-long push to recognize Miller, known as "Dorie" (Navy.mil; USA Today).
Miller was a Navy cook who, during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, reportedly shot down four to six enemy bombers despite having no formal training on the weapons system he operated. He was awarded the Navy Cross for those actions. His family has long advocated for that award to be upgraded to the Medal of Honor. Miller died at sea in 1943 when a Japanese torpedo struck the USS Liscome Bay, killing two-thirds of the crew. His story reached a broad audience when Cuba Gooding Jr. portrayed him in the 2001 film "Pearl Harbor" (The Guardian).
The renaming discussions follow a directive Trump issued on August 13, 2026, ordering the Pentagon to redesign the carrier program. Section 2 of that memo specifically targeted the USS Doris Miller, CVN-81. The same directive ordered the Pentagon to abandon modern electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS) technology on carriers in favor of a return to steam catapults. EMALS is the system that launches planes off the carrier deck using electromagnetic force rather than the traditional steam-driven piston (The Guardian).
The reports have drawn immediate political pushback. Senator Mark Kelly, Democrat of Arizona and a retired Navy officer, wrote on X that the carrier should not be renamed at all, let alone for Donald Trump. Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP, called the potential renaming "a slap in the face to every war hero and every service member who has worn the uniform" (The Guardian).
No US Navy carrier has ever been named for a sitting president. The tradition of carrier naming has generally reserved presidential names for former commanders-in-chief, applied posthumously, as with the Gerald R. Ford class itself. The carrier in question, CVN-81, remains under construction.
The broader context here involves two intersecting fault lines: the politicization of military naming decisions and the specific symbolic weight of Miller's legacy. Miller's story carries particular resonance in the history of racial integration in the armed forces. As a Black sailor in a segregated Navy, his heroism at Pearl Harbor was recognized with the Navy Cross rather than the Medal of Honor, a disparity his family and advocates have spent decades seeking to correct. Stripping his name from CVN-81 would remove the only carrier ever named for an enlisted sailor and the first named for an African American.
The parallel directive to revert from EMALS to steam catapults adds a technical dimension worth noting. EMALS, operational on the lead ship of the class, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), has been a source of contention since its introduction. Trump has previously and publicly criticized the electromagnetic system, favoring steam catapults as more reliable. A redesign mid-construction for CVN-81 would carry significant engineering and cost implications, though the full scope of the August 13 directive's implementation has not been detailed in the available reporting.
CNN's report was described as an exclusive based on three sources familiar with internal discussions. The Navy has not publicly confirmed or denied the renaming. Whether the discussions progress to a formal proposal, and whether Congress exercises its advisory role under 10 U.S.C. § 8662, which requires the Secretary of the Navy to notify Congress of vessel naming decisions, is an open question. What is established is that the conversations are occurring, that the sitting president's name is under consideration for a vessel currently designated to honor a Black enlisted war hero, and that the prospect has already produced pointed reactions from both Capitol Hill and civil rights leadership (CNN; The Guardian).
