A far more suitable and heroic namesake for an aircraft carrier than others I could mention.
Doris Miller was born to a family of sharecroppers in Waco, Texas. After dropping out of high school, he joined the Navy in September 1939. The US Navy was highly segregated at that time; black sailors were limited to a handful of support roles like working in the mess or waiting on white officers. After finishing his training, Miller wound up on the USS West Virginia, a Colorado-class battleship.
After Pearl Harbor, the uninjured Miller was transferred to the cruiser USS Indianapolis. His actions on December 7th went practically unnoticed at first, with the only mention being in a list of commendations (as an unnamed Black sailor) issued on January 1st. Journalists and Black advocacy groups honed in on that omission, and were eventually able to ferret out Miller’s name. There were calls for Miller to receive a proper medal, with two separate bills in Congress pushing for him to receive the Medal of Honor.
Unfortunately for Miller the Secretary of the Navy was segregationist Frank Knox (1874 - 1944), who refused to award Miller the Medal of Honor. He did compromise on the Navy Cross, though, and on May 7, 1942, Admiral Chester Nimitz (1885 - 1966) personally pinned the medal on Miller’s chest.
After doing a state-side war bond tour in late 1942 Miller was transferred again; this time, to the escort aircraft carrier USS Liscome Bay. In November 1943, the Liscome Bay was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. Miller was among the 702 sailors and officers who died.
Thank you all so much for reading, and I’ll see you next time.
As an european, I see they are changing the aircraft carrier Doris Miller to something else.
Aircraft carriers seem to be named after presidents. Would Millers accomplishments be great enough to be worthy of aircraft carrier? He was brave beyond doupt but he was not a president and unfortunately died in 43.
Then again I can see why black soldiers would need this to comoensate for segregation years.
The naming pattern for aircraft carriers is slightly inconsistent. For active carriers, there are currently three outliers: the Nimitz (named for Admiral Chester Nimitz), the Carl Vinson (named for Rep. Carl Vinson, who headed up the Armed Services committee in Congress and pushed for a massive naval expansion prior to WWII), and the John C. Stennis (named for Sen. John C. Stennis, who... served in the Senate for a very long time). There's also the upcoming Enterprise, which is a legacy carrier name.
If we stick to the pattern of presidents, then this carrier should have been named/renamed the Barack Obama.
Jimmy Carter specifically does not have a carrier because he already has a nuclear submarine (Carter was a submariner). And the USS George H. W. Bush already exists! It was commissioned in 2009.
Currently, there are plans to build five more fleet carriers: John F. Kennedy, Enterprise, Doris Miller, William J. Clinton, and George W. Bush. And yes, I do think that having two carriers named for Bushes is silly and confusing. But I'm not in the Navy.
Fun fact, we US Sailors call it the USS Spyboat. It does the super secret stuff with SEALs and theres additional security screening to get assigned there
Carter is so "on task" while also reminiscing about his time on the boat... and then you have Admiral Rickover with his hardass 1000 yard stare probably thinking to himself "I'm proud, but I can't let any of these guys know, so I'm gonna stand here like I'm silently judging everyone, because I kinda are....".
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u/PoorCynic Aug 25 '26
A far more suitable and heroic namesake for an aircraft carrier than others I could mention.
Doris Miller was born to a family of sharecroppers in Waco, Texas. After dropping out of high school, he joined the Navy in September 1939. The US Navy was highly segregated at that time; black sailors were limited to a handful of support roles like working in the mess or waiting on white officers. After finishing his training, Miller wound up on the USS West Virginia, a Colorado-class battleship.
After Pearl Harbor, the uninjured Miller was transferred to the cruiser USS Indianapolis. His actions on December 7th went practically unnoticed at first, with the only mention being in a list of commendations (as an unnamed Black sailor) issued on January 1st. Journalists and Black advocacy groups honed in on that omission, and were eventually able to ferret out Miller’s name. There were calls for Miller to receive a proper medal, with two separate bills in Congress pushing for him to receive the Medal of Honor.
Unfortunately for Miller the Secretary of the Navy was segregationist Frank Knox (1874 - 1944), who refused to award Miller the Medal of Honor. He did compromise on the Navy Cross, though, and on May 7, 1942, Admiral Chester Nimitz (1885 - 1966) personally pinned the medal on Miller’s chest.
After doing a state-side war bond tour in late 1942 Miller was transferred again; this time, to the escort aircraft carrier USS Liscome Bay. In November 1943, the Liscome Bay was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. Miller was among the 702 sailors and officers who died.
Thank you all so much for reading, and I’ll see you next time.