Trump orders US aircraft carriers to go back to steam catapults

Tony Capaccio, Bloomberg News on Aug 13, 2026

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President Donald Trump ordered the Navy to return to using steam catapults to launch planes off of aircraft carriers, acting on a longtime complaint despite opposition from many naval officers.

In a presidential memorandum, Trump ordered Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to come up with a plan within 60 days on what would be needed to use hydraulic catapults in the next Gerald Ford-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. The planned USS Doris Miller will be the fourth ship in the six-vessel Gerald R. Ford class of aircraft carriers.

The Navy has struggled with problems surrounding its modern electromagnetic system to launch jets off the first of the new aircraft carriers, the USS Gerald R. Ford. That issue caught Trump’s attention several years ago, and he’s criticized it frequently since, including last month, when he recounted how a service-member complained about the newer system.

“He said, steam is better, sir,” Trump said. “We can fix it with a hammer and a blowtorch.”

The decision will likely cost hundreds of millions of dollars given that the future aircraft carriers will require major redesign to include steam catapults. Naval officers have argued that the newer system is an improvement, saying it requires far less pre- and post-flight checking and maintenance.

The catapult order was one part of a memorandum that represents the next step in Trump’s push to revive U.S. shipbuilding. He ordered Hegseth to come up with a plan to build a fifth Navy shipyard and develop a new “competitive acquisition approach” for surface ships that can target submarines and serve as convoy escorts.