Nine years of griping, now with a deadline.

Full Astern

August 14, 2026 · Ibid.

Editorial cartoon: in a floodlit dry dock, Donald Trump stands before the opened hull of the half-built carrier USS Doris Miller and points up at its reactor hatch without looking; the dismantled electromagnetic catapult rail sticks out of a scrap skip labelled EMALS while a riveted brass steam boiler swings in on crane chains. Pete Hegseth nods behind him with a clipboard; acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao holds an unopened blueprint; a shipyard welder pauses mid-cut on the plating.

Trump signed a national security memorandum ordering the Pentagon to plan replacing the USS Doris Miller's electromagnetic catapults (EMALS) with steam systems, giving officials 60 days. The order tasks Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao; the Ford-class carrier is already two years behind schedule, and General Atomics says its EMALS installation on the ship is nearly 50% complete and that reversing course would introduce significant cost, schedule and integration risks. Senator Mark Kelly, a former carrier pilot, criticised the decision.