The Navy is looking at a “major redesign” of its new aircraft carriers because President Donald Trump disagrees with their “looks.”
According to a Saturday report by the Washington Post, the Navy is considering the feasibility of moving a multistory tower that acts as a command center for aircraft carriers.
The report comes after the Wall Street Journal revealed that Trump ordered future aircraft carriers to move from electromagnetic catapults to steam-powered ones and amid the nine-month deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln, where sailors have jumped overboard and attempted suicide as conditions continue to deteriorate.
The command center, also known as an aircraft carrier’s island, helps jets launch off of a ship’s flight deck, according to the Washington Post. The Navy already examined the idea of moving islands on future aircraft carriers during the first Trump term and found that moving them could cost billions of dollars and cause significant delays, a former senior U.S. official told The Post.
“It came back that the cost and time to do so would just be extraordinary,” the former official said. Bryan Clark, a former Navy officer now working at the Hudson Institute, agreed that relocating the island would be “a major redesign” that could affect the carriers’ buoyancy and weight, he told The Post.
Trump’s desire for the move stems from his preference for aircraft carriers to look more like ships that were in service during World War II, current and former officials told The Post.
The move would affect carriers in the Ford-class, a line of ships that are in various stages of development, according to The Post. The same class of carriers is affected by Trump’s order to rip out electromagnetic catapult systems. The Navy is currently planning to build up to 10 Ford-class carriers over the next four decades at a projected future cost of $22 billion each.
The Post’s report prompted renewed outcry over Trump’s handling of the military.
“The design is under review in part because Trump thinks the boat doesn’t look retro enough,” said political commentator Mario Nawfal.
Political analyst Bill Kristol described the Trump administration as “wasting billions on catering to Trump’s foolish whims about weapons. But [he] can’t go to a little extra trouble to take care of our service members.”
Former GOP congressman and veteran Adam Kinzinger reacted to the news by describing Trump as “an absolute buffoon.”
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