Max Boot 🇺🇦🇺🇸
From former naval officer Bryan Clark in @PostOpinions on the consequences of Trump’s bizarre obsession with steam catapults: Redesigning the USS Doris Miller, already under construction, to replace its electromagnetic catapults with steam systems will exacerbate the readiness crisis. The change is estimated to cost billions of dollars and delay the ship’s launch into the late 2030s. And that’s only if the Navy can convince a manufacturer to start building steam catapults again after a nearly three-decade hiatus. Delayed carrier production will drop the fleet to 10 flattops next year, with the USS Nimitz retiring and the USS John F. Kennedy not ready to deploy. Continued construction and redesign delays for the USS Miller would shrink the fleet to nine carriers during the next decade. The Navy would need to work the smaller force harder, wearing out its people and equipment faster, and accelerating the readiness decline. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/08/19/us-navy-readiness-could-be-crippled-by-trump-steam-obsession/