The family of a Black war hero says they were blindsided by reports that an aircraft carrier named in his honor is to be renamed—potentially after Donald Trump.
CNN reported that the Navy is taking steps to rename the USS Doris Miller, an aircraft carrier still under construction, and has already stopped using the name supposed to honor the Pearl Harbor hero. Sources told the network there had been internal discussions about renaming it after the president.
CNN anchor Laura Coates spoke Thursday night with Thomas Bledsoe, Miller’s great-nephew, who relayed the reaction from Miller’s loved ones. “For our family, it was quite a shock to hear that there was conversation about the possibility of renaming the Doris Miller carrier,” Bledsoe said.
“Not only was it a shock, but it was also a shock that we found out from a news outlet [rather than] the Navy.”
Doris Miller became a national hero for his actions during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, as captured in the 2001 film Pearl Harbor, in which Miller was portrayed by Cuba Gooding Jr. A mess attendant aboard the USS West Virginia, Miller helped move his wounded captain to safety before manning an unattended .50-caliber machine gun and firing on Japanese aircraft until he ran out of ammunition. He was later awarded the Navy Cross, becoming one of the first Black Americans to earn the Navy’s third-highest decoration for valor.
The reported renaming comes as Trump has dismissed reports of dismal conditions for sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and ordered the Navy to abandon electromagnetic catapult systems on aircraft carriers in favor of older steam-powered technology.
It also lands amid broader concerns from Black members of the U.S. military that the administration has been working to erase their history and accomplishments. The Atlantic reported in June that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon has sent a hostile message to Black service members by dismantling symbols tied to racial diversity in the military, pointing to the removal of a portrait of General Daniel “Chappie” James Jr., the first Black four-star general in U.S. history, from the Air Force Art Gallery amid the administration’s broader rollback of diversity programs.
James had been celebrated across the political spectrum, including by Ronald Reagan and Ron DeSantis.
CNN reported that the Navy is separately considering awarding Miller the Medal of Honor, the military’s highest distinction, and naming a different ship after him, but Bledsoe said his family remains uneasy about the timing of those moves alongside the renaming effort.
However, a Defense Department official said “we have nothing to announce at this time,” when asked by the Daily Beast about these plans.
Asked what he would say to Hegseth directly, Bledsoe said, “I would really want someone to take the time to realize the true impact of changing the name and what it would do to society.”
He added, “Doris Miller stands for so much about America and who we are today.”
The Pentagon and the Navy have been contacted for comment.
