The USS Doris Miller Renaming Fight

The story so far

As of August 21, 2026

Navy leaders are weighing whether to remove the name USS Doris Miller from the future aircraft carrier CVN-81 and instead name the ship for President Donald Trump. The carrier remains under construction with a keel-laying ceremony expected later this year, which creates a deadline to lock the name. Internally, the service has been referring to the vessel by its hull number rather than its announced name, but there has been no formal change and official records still list the ship as USS Doris Miller.

What makes this decision consequential is what the Miller name represents and what replacing it would signal. Naming CVN-81 for Doris “Dorie” Miller in 2020 broke two barriers at once, marking the first carrier named for an enlisted sailor and the first for a Black American. The Navy is simultaneously moving to recommend Miller for the Medal of Honor and to assign his name to another ship, but shifting his name off a carrier would undo the singular recognition that choice conferred. At the same time, putting a sitting president’s name on an aircraft carrier would be a first in Navy history, even though carriers are often named for presidents.

The choice sits with Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth expected to be deeply involved given the prominence of carrier names. Cao’s office has been reviewing ship-naming guidance, including how and when presidents can be honored, which helps explain why this case has become a test of naming rules rather than a one-off exception. The White House has also left visible fingerprints on CVN-81 itself, directing the Navy to replace its planned electromagnetic catapults with steam systems and referring to the ship only as CVN-81 in recent directives, a sign that decisions about the ship are being centralized and personalized at the top.

The practical stakes now are timing and precedent. The Navy needs a decision before the keel-laying, years before the ship’s expected delivery in 2034. Family members of Miller have said they were not informed and described the potential change as a shock, which underscores how the process has advanced internally without a public decision. Whether the name remains USS Doris Miller or becomes USS Donald Trump will set the tone for future carrier names and will show whether the service keeps the groundbreaking recognition it extended in 2020 or returns the class to presidential naming under new rules while the president is in office.