WASHINGTON — Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., plans to introduce three bills Thursday to block the Trump administration from scrapping plans to name an aircraft carrier in honor of a Black war hero and instead naming it after President Donald Trump.
Two U.S. officials said that Navy leadership has been discussing changing the proposed name of the aircraft carrier USS Doris Miller. The ship is still under construction but is set to be named in honor of Miller, an enlisted sailor who famously staffed an antiaircraft gun during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in 1941.
Miller, a mess attendant on the USS West Virginia, was never trained on the weapon but grabbed it during the attack and is credited with shooting down at least one Japanese plane and dragging wounded U.S. sailors to safety. Racial segregation policies at the time did not allow Black people in combat roles; they were limited in what jobs they could perform.
The USS Doris Miller would be the first aircraft carrier named after a Black service member and an enlisted sailor. The decision and the announcement to name the carrier after Miller were made during Trump’s first term.
Now, Navy leaders are considering naming the carrier after Trump, the two U.S. officials said. It is the latest effort by the Trump administration to potentially place the president’s name on federal government property.
Miller was the first Black service member to receive the Navy Cross — the Navy’s second-highest honor. One way Defense Department leaders could justify changing the ship’s name is by presenting Miller with the Medal of Honor, the two U.S. officials said. Destroyers are often named after Medal of Honor recipients, but aircraft carriers are usually named after presidents.
Booker’s legislation would prohibit any federal funds from being used to rename the ship and block future administrations from naming ships after sitting presidents and vice presidents. It also aims to provide more transparency to Congress about the naming process.
“Doris Miller didn’t wait for permission to be a hero,” Booker said in a statement. “He ran toward the fire at Pearl Harbor and fought for a country that wouldn’t even let him train on the gun he used to defend it.”
“This administration wants to erase him and slap the president’s name on a 100,000-ton warship. That isn’t honoring the Navy. It’s vandalizing its history,” Booker said. “No president should ever christen or rename a warship in his own honor, and no American hero should be erased to make room for one.”
Ship-naming authority lies with the Navy secretary, but defense secretaries are often deeply involved in decisions to name aircraft carriers. In this instance, the decision will be made by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao.
