U.S. Navy leadership is actively discussing renaming the future aircraft carrier CVN-81 to honor President Donald Trump instead of its originally designated namesake, World War II hero and Navy Cross recipient Doris Miller. The vessel, currently under construction with a keel-laying ceremony expected later in 2026, was initially announced in 2020.
Pentagon and Navy Discussions on CVN-81
Internal discussions at the Pentagon and within Navy leadership have quietly advanced over the past several months regarding the high-profile warship. According to Nbcnews, defense officials are weighing the unprecedented step of attaching a sitting president’s name to a Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier. The ship has been referred to strictly by its hull number, CVN-81, in internal documents and a recent White House executive order on shipbuilding, dropping the familiar moniker that honors an enlisted Black sailor who rushed into combat during the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor.
The Legacy of Doris Miller and the 2020 Designation
The decision to honor Doris Miller was hailed as a historic milestone during its initial announcement. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day in January 2020, then-Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly declared that the fourth Ford-class carrier would become the first aircraft carrier named after an African American and an enlisted sailor.
Miller, a mess attendant second class aboard the battleship USS West Virginia, took control of an anti-aircraft machine gun during the Pearl Harbor assault despite having no prior training on the weapon. He is credited with shooting down at least one Japanese aircraft and pulling wounded shipmates to safety before the ship began to sink.
Modly noted during the 2020 ceremony that he was not given the same opportunities that men of a different color were given to serve this country
but would not be defined by the prejudice of other people
when the attack unfolded. Miller received the Navy Cross in May 1942 from Admiral Chester W. Nimitz. He later died in 1943 during a Japanese torpedo attack in the Pacific.
Hung Cao and Vessel Naming Conventions
Aircraft carriers are traditionally named after U.S. presidents, whereas destroyers more frequently honor Medal of Honor recipients. In the wake of the internal discussions, reporting by The Daily Beast notes that Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao has explored adjustments to official guidance regarding vessel naming conventions.
While plans to alter the carrier’s name have progressed quietly behind closed doors, local reporting from KWTX in Waco, Texas—Miller’s hometown—highlights that the Navy faces an impending deadline. The vessel’s keel-laying ceremony is scheduled for the end of 2026, and the ship itself remains under active construction with a projected delivery date in 2034.
Thomas Bledsoe and Posthumous Medal of Honor Push
As discussions to rename CVN-81 persist, defense officials indicate that the Navy intends to designate a different warship to bear Miller’s name. Furthermore, military leadership is advancing a recommendation to award Miller the Medal of Honor posthumously, a distinction that requires final endorsement from Congress and President Trump.
Thomas Bledsoe, Miller’s great-nephew, told reporters that the family had not received direct notification regarding the Medal of Honor push, though he characterized the recognition as a very positive
development. Meanwhile, official responses from the administration remain minimal, with a Pentagon spokesperson declining to comment on the internal deliberations surrounding the carrier’s eventual name.
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