Thomas Bledsoe, the great-nephew of Doris Miller, told Laura Coates that his family was “shocked” to learn of talk about changing the name of a future aircraft carrier. Bledsoe said the family found out from news reports rather than from the Navy. He said that caused concern and led to a family discussion about what the change would mean, reports Mediaite.
Bledsoe pointed to the January 20, 2020, naming ceremony as an important day for the family. He said they continue to seek the Congressional Medal of Honor for Miller. Miller received the Navy Cross for his actions on December 7, 1941, during the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was a cook who manned an anti-aircraft gun and helped wounded sailors.
Coates played a 2020 clip in which then-President Donald Trump announced the USS Doris Miller and joked about his own name on a carrier. Trump said, “They won’t give me that honor. That’s a big boat, a big ship. One day, maybe.”
Navy sources describe talks on the carrier name and a Medal of Honor push
CNN reported, citing three sources familiar with internal discussions, that the Navy is working to rename the Ford-class carrier under construction that had been slated to honor Miller. The Navy announced the name USS Doris Miller during Trump’s first term.
Two of the sources said there have been internal conversations about renaming the ship to honor Trump. Naming an aircraft carrier after a sitting president would be unprecedented, the report said. Separate naming fights have also followed a judge order on Trump’s Kennedy Center name.
One source said the Navy is looking to put Miller’s name on another warship instead and is recommending him for the Medal of Honor. Congress and Trump would have to approve the award. Bledsoe said the family had not been told of the possible name change or the Medal of Honor recommendation. He called the recommendation “very positive” and said the family has sought the honor “for years.”
The Navy directed questions to the Office of the Secretary of Defense. A Department of Defense spokesperson said they had nothing to announce. Sources said the renaming effort has been underway since earlier this year. Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao and his office have looked at updating official guidance on ship names, including whether presidents can be honored that way, two sources said.
The Navy has stopped using the name USS Doris Miller internally and now refers to the ship only as CVN-81, one source said. A recent White House executive order on shipbuilding also used only the hull number CVN-81. The keel-laying ceremony is expected at the end of this year. Delivery is not expected until 2034 because of shipbuilder constraints, USNI News first reported.
Former Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly announced the name in January 2020 at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day ceremony in Pearl Harbor. Modly said Miller was the son of a sharecropper and “an American sailor.” Miller enlisted in 1939 from Waco, Texas.
On the day of the attack he was a Mess Attendant Third Class retrieving laundry. He aided his wounded commanding officer, then took an anti-aircraft gun he had not been trained to use and fired until the ammunition ran out. He then helped other sailors to safety.
Admiral Chester Nimitz presented Miller with the Navy Cross in 1942. Miller later joined a war-bond tour, becoming the first African American allowed on it, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. He was killed about a year later when his ship was hit by a Japanese submarine torpedo during the Battle of Makin. Cuba Gooding Jr. portrayed him in the 2001 film Pearl Harbor.
A Navy renaming commission met in 2025 under former Secretary John Phelan. A person familiar with Phelan’s thinking said he believes carriers should be named only after presidents, Navy admirals, and major Navy battles. Phelan requested a Naval History and Heritage Command study but left office before it finished and did not comment officially on the Miller name, the source said.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed changes to names the administration views as diversity, equity, and inclusion choices, including an order to rename the USNS Harvey Milk. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Hegseth wants names “reflective of the Commander-in-Chief’s priorities, our nation’s history, and the warrior ethos.” Trump has also issued other recent Navy orders on Hormuz mine boats.
Modly told CNN the Miller name was recommended by a group of retired Black admirals. He said the names are meant to be “symbolic and unifying” and that a ship named for Miller would highlight “the heroism, patriotism and sacrifices of all American sailors.”
Bledsoe said the matter is “not just about a name on a ship” but about “what it means to be an American” and growing “as one and become one.” Many active carriers carry presidents’ names, though others honor figures such as Admiral Nimitz and Congressman Carl Vinson.
Published: Aug 22, 2026 09:30 am