Donald Trump’s Meddling Could Scupper America’s Aircraft Carriers

Trump wants flattops like the fleet had during World War II

A Usailor signals the launch of an F/A-18F Super Hornet aircraft, attached to Strike Fighter Squadron 213, on the flight deck of the world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford, while underway in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea on March 22, 2026. U.S. Navy photo

by DAVID AXE

U.S. Pres. Donald Trump has demanded the U.S. Navy redesign its aircraft carriers to look more like carrier from World War II. If the fleet actually does what Trump has ordered, the impact on the carrier force’s readiness and combat power could be catastrophic.

Trump is reportedly a big fan of the Victory at Sea documentary that originally aired in the 1950s and depicted the naval campaigns of World War II. That fandom became a fixation—and a force-planning imperative—once Trump became president in 2017.

In his first term, the president repeatedly criticized the Navy’s latest Ford-class carriers for their electromagnetic catapults, which are demonstrably more efficient than old steam catapults but which Trump, who has no military or engineering experience, has declared “not good.”