Navy Weighs Renaming Doris Miller Carrier for Trump

Miller, from Waco, Texas, enlists in the Navy. He is a Mess Attendant Third Class — one of the only jobs open to black men in the Navy at the time, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Miller is retrieving laundry when Japanese bombs begin falling on the US fleet at Pearl Harbor. Damage keeps him from his assigned battle station. He aids his wounded commanding officer, then takes control of an anti-aircraft gun — with no training on the system — and opens fire on Japanese aircraft, stopping only when the ammunition runs out and his ship begins to sink. He then helps other sailors to safety.

Admiral Chester Nimitz presents Miller with the Navy Cross. Miller is sent on a War Bond tour with white service members, making him the first African American allowed on the speaking tour, per the VA. Roughly a year later he is killed at the Battle of Makin when his ship is hit by a Japanese submarine's torpedo.

Then-Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly announces the Ford-class carrier will be named USS Doris Miller, at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day ceremony at Pearl Harbor. It is the first carrier to honor an enlisted sailor and the first named for an African American.

The Navy convenes a renaming commission under then-Secretary John Phelan to review how ships and other military assets are named. Separately, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth orders the USNS Harvey Milk renamed.

The effort to rename the USS Doris Miller gets underway, sources told CNN. The Navy effectively stops referring to the ship by name internally, calling it only by its hull number, CVN-81.

CNN reports the renaming talks.