Breaking — The US Navy is internally weighing whether to rename the future aircraft carrier CVN-81, currently designated the future USS Doris Miller, and could potentially name it after President Donald Trump, CNN reported on 20 August 2026 in an exclusive that has since been corroborated by NBC News, Hawaii News Now and Waco station KWTX.

Naming a carrier after a sitting president would be unprecedented in US Navy history. As of publication, the Navy has not publicly confirmed any final decision, and the reporting is based on people described as familiar with the internal conversations.

Here is what the outlets are reporting, what is confirmed, and who Doris Miller was.

What CNN reported

According to CNN, internal conversations about renaming CVN-81 are under way, and Navy leadership has reportedly stopped referring to the ship as the future USS Doris Miller, using only its hull number. The network reports that one option under discussion is naming the carrier for President Trump.

CNN further reports that, rather than simply stripping Miller's name, the Navy is considering naming a different warship after him while recommending him for the Medal of Honor, an award that would require approval from Congress and the president. NBC News, Hawaii News Now and KWTX have carried versions of the same account.

A key deadline frames the story: per the reporting, a final name must be settled before the ship's keel-laying ceremony, which is planned for late 2026. The Navy has not publicly confirmed a final decision, and no on-the-record Navy statement naming a new namesake had been issued at the time of writing.

Who was Doris Miller

Doris "Dorie" Miller was born in Waco, Texas, on 12 October 1919. He served as a mess attendant aboard the battleship USS West Virginia, and on 7 December 1941 he was aboard the ship at Pearl Harbor. During the attack he helped carry wounded sailors to safety and then manned an anti-aircraft machine gun despite having no gunnery training.

For his actions, Miller became the first Black American to receive the Navy Cross, presented by Admiral Chester Nimitz on 27 May 1942. He was killed in action on 24 November 1943 when the escort carrier USS Liscome Bay was sunk by a Japanese submarine, one of hundreds of men lost in what remains one of the deadliest carrier sinkings in US Navy history.

A short tribute recounting Doris Miller's actions at Pearl Harbor and his legacy as the first Black American to receive the Navy Cross.

The ship and its timeline

CVN-81 was announced in January 2020 by then-acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly to be named USS Doris Miller, the first US aircraft carrier named for an enlisted sailor and for a Black American. It is the fourth Gerald R. Ford-class carrier, built at Huntington Ingalls Industries' Newport News shipyard and purchased in a 2019 two-carrier deal alongside the future USS Enterprise (CVN-80).

Per the Navy's FY2027 budget, the carrier's delivery has slipped from 2032 to 2034 amid shipyard space constraints. The renaming report also follows separate mid-August 2026 design changes ordered for CVN-81, swapping its electromagnetic catapults for steam and its advanced weapons elevators for hydraulic systems, which Afterburner has covered in detail.

What is confirmed, and what is not

To be clear about the sourcing: the renaming discussions are attributed to reporting by CNN and corroborating outlets, based on people familiar with the internal deliberations. The Navy has not issued a public statement confirming a new name, and the reporting itself frames the matter as under consideration rather than decided.

Afterburner will update this post as the Navy responds and as the late-2026 keel-laying approaches. We are reporting the story straight and will let the confirmed facts drive any future coverage.

Sources: CNN, NBC News, Hawaii News Now, KWTX, Navy Times, US Navy (navy.mil), Wikipedia