Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

Navy officials secretly plan to ignore Trump’s warship demands

alternet.org · 4h · first reportShare

Five and one-half months into his war with Iran, U.S. President Donald Trump has specific ideas on how he wants warships to be designed. But according to The Hill, Trump's ideas present challenges for U.S. Navy officials — who are grappling with possible ways to respond to his warship demands . The Hill's Filip Timotija reports, "President Trump is increasingly putting his thumb on the scale by wading more into the designs of U.S. aircraft carriers, backing potentially seismic design changes that would increase construction costs and scramble timelines to complete the build. The president has ordered a return to steam catapults on Ford-class aircraft carriers, and the U.S. Navy is conducting a review to consider possibly moving the multistory aircraft carrier's command center tower toward the middle of the vessel." According to Timotija, defense industry experts "believe Trump's aesthetic concerns will not be implemented in the long run, as the current aircraft carriers' build is under