Navy Reportedly Weighs Renaming Doris Miller Carrier After Trump

Coverage spread: 2 sources — 1 left · 1 center

Lean ratings via AllSides / Media Bias-Fact-Check. How this works.

Where they agree

The Navy is reportedly working to rename the carrier previously designated the USS Doris Miller, possibly after Donald Trump.
Doris Miller was a Navy mess attendant who shot down several Japanese aircraft during the attack on Pearl Harbor despite having no formal weapons training, and was awarded the Navy Cross.
Miller died in 1943 aboard the Liscome Bay, and his family has long sought to have his Navy Cross upgraded to a Medal of Honor.
Senator Mark Kelly publicly condemned the potential renaming, calling it inappropriate given Trump’s past comments about service members.

Where they differ

The Guardian’s two pieces focus specifically on the Miller carrier story, detailing his Pearl Harbor heroism and citing CNN’s sourcing plus public and senatorial backlash.
The Hill’s opinion piece situates the renaming report within a broader critique of Trump’s other interventions in Navy matters, such as demands about steam propulsion, the Strait of Hormuz, and carrier design aesthetics.
The Guardian includes detailed public reaction, including a widely shared Reddit comment, while The Hill does not address public sentiment at all.
Only the CNN reporting cited by The Guardian identifies the sourcing (three people familiar with internal discussions); The Hill does not independently verify or add sourcing detail.

The US Navy is reportedly working to rename an aircraft carrier under construction that was set to honor Doris Miller, a Black sailor celebrated for his heroism at Pearl Harbor, possibly renaming it after President Donald Trump instead. CNN reported the plan, citing three sources familiar with internal discussions, two of whom said Trump’s name had come up as a replacement. No US Navy carrier has ever been named for a sitting president.

Who was Doris Miller and why was the ship named for him?

Doris “Dorie” Miller was a Navy mess attendant — a cook, a role largely reserved for Black sailors in the segregated Navy of the era — aboard the USS West Virginia during the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. According to his Navy Cross citation, Miller helped move his mortally wounded captain to safety amid heavy strafing and fire, then took control of an anti-aircraft machine gun he had never been trained to operate. He is reported to have shot down four to six Japanese aircraft during the attack.

Miller was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions, and his family has spent years pushing for that honor to be upgraded to the Medal of Honor. He died in 1943 when the escort carrier Liscome Bay was sunk by a Japanese torpedo, killing roughly two-thirds of its crew. His story was later dramatized in the 2001 film “Pearl Harbor,” in which he was played by Cuba Gooding Jr. The carrier bearing his name, the USS Doris Miller, was previously designated as the first supercarrier named for both an enlisted sailor and an African American.

What exactly is being proposed now?

CNN’s sources say Navy officials are actively discussing stripping Miller’s name from the ship, with Trump’s name floated as a leading alternative. The reporting does not indicate a final decision has been made, and the sources describe this as part of internal discussions rather than an announced policy. The Guardian’s coverage relies on the CNN reporting rather than independent Navy confirmation.

How are officials and the public reacting?

Democratic Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, a retired Navy officer, was among the most prominent critics, posting on X that the carrier “shouldn’t be renamed at all, let alone for Donald Trump,” and accusing the president of having “denigrated servicemembers like Dorie Miller who have paid the ultimate price.” The Guardian noted that social media reaction skewed sharply negative, citing a widely shared Reddit comment contrasting Miller’s status as a “Navy War Hero” with characterizations of Trump as a “draft dodger.”

Does this fit a pattern?

A Hill opinion piece frames the reported renaming as part of a broader pattern of the president intervening in Navy affairs, pointing to previous instances where Trump pushed for the Navy to return to steam-powered systems, declared an intention to treat the Strait of Hormuz as US territory, and demanded that new aircraft carrier designs be changed to look “better.” That piece treats the carrier-naming report as one more example of unusual presidential involvement in naval decisions, rather than examining the Miller case in detail.

Why this is getting attention

The dispute touches on questions of military tradition, race, and the honoring of enlisted service members. Ship-naming conventions for carriers have historically leaned toward presidents, statesmen, and decorated figures, but not sitting presidents — a norm this proposal would break. Critics see the potential removal of Miller’s name as erasing recognition for a Black sailor whose heroism came despite the constraints of a segregated military, at a time when his family is still seeking a posthumous Medal of Honor upgrade. Supporters of naming a carrier after Trump have not been quoted directly in this reporting; the coverage so far centers on the criticism and the underlying facts of Miller’s story rather than any official defense of the potential change.

Sources

Featured photo: Service Depicted: NavyCommand Shown: N1601 via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)