Trump Orders the Navy to Rip the Electromagnetic Catapults Out of the Next Ford-Class Carrier and Go Back to 1950s Steam — and the Navy Starts Studying Whether to Move the Island to Match His WWII Aesthetic
On August 13, 2026, President Trump signed a national security memorandum, "Rebuilding the United States Navy and America's Shipbuilding Industrial Base," directing Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao to deliver a plan within 60 days to replace the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) and Advanced Weapons Elevators with steam catapults and hydraulic elevators on the future USS Doris Miller (CVN-81), a Ford-class carrier already under construction. The USS Gerald R. Ford, the future USS John F. Kennedy and the future USS Enterprise keep EMALS; the reversal starts with the fourth ship. The same memo opens the door to foreign-built warships and foreign ship designs — a direct conflict with House and Senate NDAA language restricting construction in foreign yards — and directs planning for a fifth public shipyard. Two days later, on August 15, The Washington Post reported that the Navy is separately studying whether to relocate the carrier "island" — the multistory command tower — from its aft position toward the middle of the ship, because Trump prefers the look of World War II-era carriers. The aft island placement was a deliberate design choice to free deck space near the catapults and reduce turbulence on landing. The Navy examined moving it during Trump's first term and concluded the cost and delay would be, in one former senior official's words, "extraordinary." EMALS production on CVN-81 is roughly 50 percent complete. General Atomics, the manufacturer, warned that "changing course now would introduce significant cost, schedule, and integration risks." Plans call for up to 10 Ford-class carriers over four decades at a projected $22 billion each. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) — a former Navy combat pilot with a master's in aeronautical engineering who sits on Armed Services — was the sharpest congressional voice against the order. Congress was in August recess, limiting on-record reaction.
“I've launched off the front of aircraft carriers hundreds of times, have a Master's degree in aeronautical engineering, and am a test pilot and even I wouldn't suggest to the Navy how to engineer specific systems on its ships.”