NAACP slams Navy’s reported talks to swap war hero’s name on carrier with Trump’s

NAACP President Derrick Johnson bashed the Navy Friday following reports that it planned to rename an aircraft carrier — currently named after a Black World War II war hero — and had considered President Trump’s name as a replacement.

Johnson wrote in a social media post that the alleged talks surrounding the USS Doris Miller’s name are “a slap in the face to every war hero and to every service member who has worn the uniform.”

The aircraft carrier is the first of its kind to carry the name of a Black American, as well as the first named in honor of a sailor’s actions performed while serving in the enlisted ranks. The vessel received the name in 2020 during a ceremony at Pearl Harbor.

Doris Miller served aboard the battleship USS West Virginia when Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. When the attack started, Miller jumped to help wounded sailors before manning an anti-aircraft gun and firing at Japanese planes, despite having no formal training on the weapon.

Before being killed in action in 1943, Miller became the first Black American to receive the Navy Cross for his actions during Pearl Harbor.

“It’s beyond comprehension for a president to want his own name on a Navy ship while our armed forces are living in deteriorating conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln ,” Johnson said.

Though the Navy has not confirmed any reports on the potential renaming of the Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier, two unnamed sources told CNN Thursday that there had been conversations within the military branch about changing the vessel’s name to instead honor Trump.

However, the White House has made recent public announcements surrounding alterations to vessels such as the USS Doris Miller, sharing plans in August to replace electromagnetic aircraft launch system catapults — which the Navy credited as being highly effective — with steam-powered catapults .

The White House said the move would “fix critical long-term issues in Navy shipbuilding,” though some experts described the technology as outdated.

Bryan Clark, a senior fellow and director of the Center for Defense Concepts and Technology at the Hudson Institute, told The Hill that steam catapults are no longer in production , and the Navy bought the last set 20 years ago.