Controversial: Will Donald Trump's Name Replace a Pearl Harbor Hero?

The US Navy is considering naming the new aircraft carrier CVN-81 after sitting President Donald Trump, instead of Doris Miller, the African-American hero of Pearl Harbor. The original 2020 decision to name the vessel after Miller is being reconsidered as part of Pentagon policy under Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. The Navy has stopped referring to the vessel by Miller's name in internal documents.

The US Navy is considering an unprecedented step: naming the new aircraft carrier, numbered CVN-81, after sitting President Donald Trump. If approved, this would be the first time in history an American aircraft carrier is named after a sitting president. The original decision from 2020, during Trump's first term, was to name the vessel after Doris Miller, an African-American sailor who became a hero during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Miller helped his wounded commander and operated an anti-aircraft machine gun despite not being trained for it, earning the Navy Cross. He was killed about two years later in a battle in the Pacific. According to CNN, the Navy has recently stopped referring to the vessel as "USS Doris Miller" in internal documents and primarily uses its number. A White House executive order also referred to it only as CVN-81. The discussions are part of a broader Pentagon policy under Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, which includes a review of names chosen in recent years under diversity and inclusion policies. The Navy is under pressure to decide on the matter this year, before the keel-laying ceremony of the aircraft carrier. Miller's nephew said the family was not informed of the plan to change the name but welcomed the effort to award Miller the Medal of Honor posthumously.