Trump is a mechanical engineer now, hoping to make steam engines great again. 
The Navy Tried to Talk Trump Out of This
The Wall Street Journal reports Trump Orders Navy to Restore Older Tech on Aircraft Carriers, Costing Billions
President Trump has directed the Navy to tear out a complex system for launching jet fighters from its aircraft carriers and instead go back to using steam catapults, a move Navy officials have fought for years and will likely cost billions of dollars.
U.S. officials say Trump signed a national security memorandum Thursday directing the change, which would involve removing the electromagnetic catapult system used by the ships in the Gerald R. Ford class of carriers.
By doing so, Trump is making good on a promise he made almost 10 years ago to go back to the steam system after hearing a sailor praise it while visiting a ship during his first term.
But since Trump said in an interview with Time in 2017 that he told the Navy to go back to “goddamn steam,” top Navy and industry leaders have resisted the move because of the enormous expense to tear out such a complex system that was integral to the design of the Ford class.
The move directs the Navy to redesign the fourth ship in the class—to be named the Doris Miller—and all remaining ships. The first three ships—the Ford, John F. Kennedy and Enterprise—will retain the electromagnetic system.
“They’re not nearly as good, too complex,” Trump said last month at a conference in Pennsylvania, referring to the electromagnetic system.
The order marks Trump’s latest foray into the design and development of military programs. He inserted himself into negotiations for the Air Force One and the F-35 jet fighter programs, directed design changes to the Constellation-class frigate and championed the creation of Trump-class battleships.
“This decision will result in carriers that are enabled by battle-tested steam and hydraulic systems that are more resilient and robust than the present, more exquisite, follow-on systems,” the White House said in a statement. “It will also reactivate portions of the maritime industrial base that are easier to scale.”
The USS George H.W. Bush, which entered the Navy’s fleet in 2009, was the last aircraft carrier built with steam catapults. Replacing the electromagnetic catapults with steam will be a complex endeavor that will likely cost billions of dollars, according to Bryan Clark, a naval expert with the Hudson Institute, a Washington think tank.
Internally, the Ford class is much different from the Nimitz. Sections that housed the infrastructure for steam have been reworked or simply don’t exist. Steam on the older Nimitz ships powers not only the aircraft catapults but also heating and evaporators that produce freshwater and galley equipment, such as kettles. Piping runs throughout the ship, which creates numerous points of failure.
“Electric is more reliable,” Clark said. “If I can turn these components to be electric instead of steam, it eliminates all the steam related mechanical parts.”
The maintenance on the electrical systems is cheaper, he added. There are 500 fewer sailors on the Ford, in part because fewer technicians are needed to work on the ship’s existing steam equipment.
China is using electromagnetic catapults in its newest aircraft carriers, and France plans to use the system on the Ford in its new carrier.
Senator Kelly Chimes In
“I’ve launched off the front of aircraft carriers hundreds of times, have a Master’s degree in aeronautical engineering, and am a test pilot and even I wouldn’t suggest to the Navy how to engineer specific systems on its ships. Donald Trump should stick to what he knows best — ballrooms, bankruptcy, and bullshit.”
If you are questioning the wisdom of this, please remember, Trump is never wrong.
He was right about the Iran war, tariffs, inflation, and everything else too.
I am sure steam engines will be great again.
“Mish, it would be good if you did a post discussing the issues regarding steam catapults vs. EMALS instead of just trashing Trump on this. Both types of catapults have their pros and cons, but the EMALS have had reliability issues in the past.”
OK let’s debate is the earth is flat. And let’s debate whether the earth is only 3,000 years old. What about horses vs the horseless carriage?
The military experts in the US Army and Navy tried to talk Trump out of it. China trashed steam in all of its ships.
There is nothing to discuss other than how stupid Trump is.
The broader question is why is a political figure, the president, making decrees about the design of military equipment. Trump is not an engineer, a scientist, or an educated man for that matter. He is a real estate clown and carnival barker and a stupid one at that.
It’s amazing how everyone just overlooks that one key flaw in this whole argument.
The average Trump voter doesn’t have any particular intellectual expertise in any field. And because of that, they don’t understand that it is something important. Hence the votes for Trump.
Isaac Asimov talked about this: “If I’m as good as you, if we’re all equal, then my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”
The trumpy flipside is “The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”
It’s his superpower. He’s Bullshit Jesus, and the feeble minded are powerless to penetrate his bullshit.
I wonder if steam is better suited to withstand electromagnetic interference(EMF) blasts.
If you can get a device close enough to an aircraft carrier with enough power to put out enough EMF interference to take down the launcher, you can get a warhead close enough to destroy the ship altogether. They take those kinds of things into account.
The problem here is the controls involve electronics. Not ever vessel has a fast thinking Captain Trump to yell out, “Switch to manual controls!”
MISH has no understanding of how the military thinks. Unless the new system “beats” the old system in every single way, then the brass would rather keep the very reliable old system around (and live with the drawbacks). I’ve heard for years that EMALS has downsides and if those never got fully ironed out, then it may very well be logical to scrap the idea. It wouldn’t be the first time that momentum allowed a bad idea to get too far along. Launching aircraft is the primary purpose of a carrier, there’s no room for temperamental gear.
Or. Or. The military brass,salivating over the potential for low/mid 6-figure incomes with defense contractors after they retire, push for the new system while they are in uniform and then get rewarded with cushy jobs with Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, etc. The EMALS system might require more research and development rhan the old steam system. The government funds the R&D and the contractor makes a profit of the money they spend doing the R&D. Then the contractor builds it into the boat and gets a contract with the Navy for the next 20-30 years to support the Navy’s sustainment of the boat until it is decommissioned.
Or perhaps the engineering report analysis EMALS in long deployments pointing out serious problems.
Inside the Ford-Class Fix: What Finally Makes EMALS Work at Sea | Modern Engineering Marvels
“The pragmatic solution has not been as much of a one-redesign look as it has been of a reliability campaign: hardware and software improvements, closer calibration of control logic, an increasing focus on maintainability at sea. The critical stressors, as already outlined in continuous scrutiny of EMALS at operational pace, are cumulative, thus thermal cycling, vibration, wear of parts, and power variations, whereas the troubleshooting is limited by the flight schedule and spares availability. The system is capable of posting impressive performance on a day to day basis; what the fleet requires is a steady performance over months.”
“The same body of operational experience also clarified that the remainder gap was not “can it launch,” but is the remain diagnostics of onboard repair loop is robust enough that the deck will continue to roll day after day.”
His sources are the DOT&E (Director, Operational Test & Evaluation) annual reports.
Apparently this last long deployment made them make the hard decision to discontinue plans to install EMALS in the new carrier.
We’re not in disagreement here. Some of the military leaders make decisionsore so in the interest of their post-military careers than in the best interest of their Service.
From GROK:
There is a well-documented record of reliability problems and failures with the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS)—the magnetic/electromagnetic catapults—on U.S. Navy Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers.
en.wikipedia.org
EMALS replaces traditional steam catapults and is intended to provide smoother acceleration (less stress on airframes), support a wider range of aircraft weights (including lighter drones), and enable higher sortie rates with lower long-term maintenance. It is installed on USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) and subsequent Ford-class ships.
en.wikipedia.org
Key reliability shortfalls
Independent assessments from the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) have repeatedly shown performance well below Navy requirements:
Specific operational issues
These issues contributed to delays in Ford reaching full operational capability (first deployment in 2023) and have affected sortie generation rates. The Navy has continued to install and refine EMALS on follow-on ships, and the system has accumulated tens of thousands of launches (over 36,000 reported on Ford by early 2026 in some accounts), with gradual improvements in crew proficiency and some repair times.
sofrep.com
Reliability concerns have drawn high-level attention, including public criticism and recent directives related to potentially revisiting steam catapults for future carriers. Overall, while EMALS offers theoretical advantages and is operational, official testing records confirm persistent shortfalls relative to design goals.
Yes, this why China moved to them?
This is why everyone in the army and Navy wants them?
I think candles were flawless and we should return to them.
If you accuse me of TDS you get banned. Zero tolerance
People accusing you of TDS clearly have TDS II. Ban those fools!
But one can say you are just wrong on something.
Coal. Beautiful clean coal.
Coming soon to a battleship near you.
blown out of proportion, the directive is just for one carrier.
Anything but universal health care.
I remember reading about how dumb Churchill was because he had some bad ideas about military strategy. Apparently he wanted to launch an invasion of Borneo without knowing that the ground was unsuitable for what he wanted to do there. I think he also gets the blame, or part of the blame, for the attempted invasion of Turkey at Gallipoli in World War One. (This is a big thing in Australian history. We lost a lot of troops there.)
Leaders can make mistakes, and sometimes bad mistakes. Let’s hope somebody talks him out of it before too much damage is done. Nothing he does is likely to do more than a tiny fraction of the damage being done by the Education religion and the Socialism version of Christianity.
What, little hookers should get an education, now?
I think they’re in a more honest trade as they are.
Nuclear reactors produce steam. He is not advocating for steam engines.
“This decision will result in carriers that are enabled by battle-tested steam and hydraulic systems that are more resilient and robust than the present”
The above quote is a 100% correct statement.
Senator Mark Kelly: “Donald Trump should stick to what he knows best”.
He is doing just that.
Clownshow.
Great
Best way to manage an organization is if the top honcho intervenes, reaching right down through all layers of competence and reporting, to overrule instructions the doorman received from his immediate supervisor, reshuffling all the priorities without knowing about the rationale behind any of it or any side effects, running day-to-day decisions at the ground level.
Always leads to great outcomes.
Better yet, have the doorman and the CEO trade position and salary.
Everyone should let this part of article ….Stink in…….
from Senator Mark Kelly
I’ve launched off the front of aircraft carriers hundreds of times, have a Master’s degree in aeronautical engineering, and am a test pilot and even I wouldn’t suggest to the Navy how to engineer specific systems on its ships.
Donald Trump should stick to what he knows best — Ballrooms, Bankruptcy, and BULLSHIT.
No airedale understands steam technology nor does Mish.
The electric catapults haven’t worked right from the beginning, and neither did the railguns. Giant electromagnetic fields on a steel ship, what can go wrong? Apparently quite a lot that wasn’t accounted for.
A lower power electric catapult would suffice for the drone fleet. The big turndown in power so the same catapult could launch a small drone or a loaded fighter was the big selling point. It has not delivered.
Mish, it would be good if you did a post discussing the issues regarding steam catapults vs. EMALS instead of just trashing Trump on this. Both types of catapults have their pros and cons, but the EMALS have had reliability issues in the past.
OK let’s debate is the earth is flat. And let’s debate whether the earth is only 3,000 years old. What about horses vs the horseless carriage?
The military experts in the US Army and Navy tried to talk Trump out of it. China trashed steam in all of its ships.
There is nothing to discuss other than how stupid Trump is.
Thats probably a suggestion by defense contractors. More complicated more money. I bet EMF is a big issue too. Magnetics and EMF bursts and electrical systems are no bueno
Yes, because defense contractors are all about saving the government money, especially a fruga1 government like the Trump regime..
Seriously, listen to yourself.
But Mish, the Orange Julius Caesar knows more than the generals, remember? LOL
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kul34O_yMLs&pp=ygUjdHJ1bXAgaSBrbm93IG1vcmUgdGhhbiB0aGUgZ2VuZXJBbHM%3D
Quiet, please. Malignant narcissism at work.
Excellent comment
Trump thinks he now has to fix the Navy since we are losing a conflict against a foe that doesn’t have a Navy
MIT offers a degree in naval architecture.
Fat Donnie’s uncle taught at MIT.
This makes the genius qualified to design aircraft carriers.
Trump Opens Door to Foreign-Built Warships in Major Navy Shipbuilding Overhaul
https://gcaptain.com/trump-opens-door-to-foreign-built-warships-in-major-navy-shipbuilding-overhaul/
But I thought the tariffs were all about bringing manufacturing back to America? Lol.
We have an old Steam Locomotive in our city park. Burns dinosaur coal!
Right up Trumps alley!
I think they purchased it from Belchfire Motors in the City Of Emphysema.
1 is this a republican taking us back to the glorious 50s
2 or is trump or his cronies try to profit
3 babbling old man complain like the guy who said cars would never be better than horse and carriage.
Glad the deranged idiot continues to have his priorities straight.
No way Hegseth allows an aircraft carrier to be named after Doris Miller.
Funny!
She might have a bit of testosterone in there somewhere!
Hegseth is nothing but a Fox News plant and inside information gatherer.
Doris Miller is not a she.
He was the first Black recipient of the Navy Cross but was denied a Congressional Medal of Honor by the Sec of War Knox due to his color.
Wait till trump finds out he was black.
He was a black man.
an assessment of the USS George Washington–new island 1000 miles from Iran
The USS George Washington (CVN-73) was commissioned July 4, 1992. It launched its first combat sorties in 2000, against Iraqi targets. It conducted combat sorties in 2002 and 2004 against targets in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Its last combat sorties were launched in July 2004.
In 2008 a severe fire occurred on the ship. But it was eventually “repaired” and then assigned as the US 7th Fleet “forward-deployed” carrier, based in Yokosuka, Japan. It remained in Yokosuka until 2015, and then proceeded to the shipyards on the US east coast.
It entered dry-dock in August 2017 for its mid-life “Refueling and Complex Overhaul”, which was repeatedly delayed for various reasons.
It was over seven years until the ship arrived in Yokosuka again in November 2024, where it remains.
The ship has not been deployed to a combat zone since 2004. It has not launched a combat sortie in over 22 years. It engages in various ceremonial roles, takes part in various multi-nation exercises and training, and on occasion does a leisurely “patrol” of the nearby seas.
Otherwise it remains lashed to its berth in Yokosuka, and no doubt contributes a lot to the local night-life economy.
In any case, the evidence is clear that the USS George Washington is NOT a combat-capable aircraft carrier. Every mission it is assigned is a milk run.
Something disqualifies it to be used in the same fashion as the handful of Nimitz-class carriers that have carried the load for the past several years.
It is a proverbial Potemkin Village.
floating targets–the carrier having to stay 1000 mi away from a conflict says it all
Now what we need is an AI created Still of Trump in a clown outfit blowing steam out of all of his body’s Hole (Ears, Nostrils, Mouth and Asshole).
By the time this gets going, there will be another Prez.
Full steam (haha) ahead on Trump’s 7th bankruptcy, the United States. End stage predatory capitalism is not a pretty picture. We had oligarch socialism since the beginning, military/war socialism for almost 100 years, lets try Democratic Socialism for everybody.
Bring back catapult planes. Toss a powder bag for a 5″ gun into the slingshot and add a lit match. Boom, you’re airborne. No aircraft carrier needed. The Greatest Generation didn’t need no stinkin’ testosterone shots.
If Trump sticks to what he knows best, he would go back to raping little girls and bullying contractors. Oh wait, this is bullying…
Trump is a fucking malicious idiot!
You forgot his Epstein escapades which he denies and the more adamant he has gotten simply deepens my conviction that Trump is a totally useless eater.
Certainly not forgotten, only alluded to… Agree wholeheartedly that Trump is a useless eater for the US. He is the most valuable asset that War Mongering Israel has ~ unfortunately.
Apparently you didn’t read the White House communiqué and only read the NYT article. This is what the WH said:
The CVN-81 is the new carrier in the designing stage and no other aircraft carrier is mentioned so the equipment will not be “torn out” from existing ships. The Persian Gulf deployments showed steam catapults tolerate abuse, field improvision and repair much better than EMALS.
Another is that soon powerful anti-missile lasers will soon be installed on aircraft carriers for obvious reasons and that creates a conflict and competition for electrical power in the ship. Not total power mind you but high-quality electrical pulse power. Building the new carrier using steam catapults solves this conflict because it is mechanical not electrical. The two systems are separated in every sense.
Kelly is just trying to get back into the limelight but his political instincts suck.
Dougie, you’re back! How are the safe spaces doing?
It’s a one night stand.
Ah well, see you next time you’re in town.
Say hi to the snowflakes for me.
Say hi to your wife for me.
oh Doug78! I thought the grim reaper gave you a Lindsey Graham special. I guess not just yet.
I didn’t come back for you but for Mish and it is very temporary so don’t get your hopes up.
But who’s going to give us all the wrong information and predictions if you’re not around? You can’t expect JoJo to carry the whole burden do you?
This link is full of Doug78 gems.
https://mishtalk.com/economics/trump-postpones-strikes-on-iran-claims-progress-in-talks-that-iran-denies/#comments
I noticed you do not contest what I wrote so should I assume you agree. I suppose that means although you do not like me personally you do accept my ideas.
Contest? Everything you wrote in those comments turned out to be wrong. Go read for yourself. stock market in trouble, oil going down, war being over soon….lol.
If you don’t see it, you’re as delusional as Trump.
Then tell me why I was wrong about what Mish said if you can. I bet you can’t.
Doug, thanks for the insightful explanation, it makes complete sense. It seems like the negative comments and the downvotes aren’t looking at things very critically. Nobody has commented on what you said, only who you’ve been in the past. I don’t have the slightest use for Trump but when there’s a good reason for switching over to steam catapults it seems ridiculous to call it idiocy just because it bears Trump’s signature.
changing the design years into the program will cost billions of dollars, that is the problem. What are your qualifications?
When the facts change and render your design vulnerable you better change the design.
Thanks Axel. The long deployment with a massive anti-ship missile barrage gave them good reason to rethink what they really need.
Humm what do they use to heat the water in steam.
The reactors heat water to make steam and the steam plant divides the steam into two different streams. One stream goes directly to the catapults and the other goes to the generators that generate the ship’s electricity and the propulsion turbines that drive the ship. It is a simple system, rugged and reliable.
Mish likes to “exaggerate” with respect to this topic, which he has covered before. Note the coal-fired steam engine in the cartoon associated with this article. He is lampooning the idea, not the facts surrounding the idea.
Steam catapults represent a time when America was great. Of course they should be brought back! And we need tailfins on our pickups. Trump should demand that!
He thinks everything publicly owned and created is his own bathtub toy.
Why wouldn’t he? Where is the pushback that matters? The USA has been exposed
Arbitrary, capricious, despotic, and entering terminal cognitive decline.
Peelo, use the past tense: “ENTERED COGNITIVE” decline YEARS AGO. We are just stuck with this inane shit.
Let’s not forget that Biden was brain-dead. JESUS, WTF HAS HAPPENED TO AMERICA?
330 million Americans, and those two clowns were what was on offer.
Well there was plenty of competition in the Republican primary. Republican voters voted in the one who best represented their values.
I’m not sure neocon Nikki Haley was much competition.
If trump represents their values we need to build some re-education camps.
Next, we need a genuine calf skin sheath on the nuclear football.
Perfect for Trump’s political Hail Mary pass, his ultimate splashy event.
Presses big nuke button, world’s largest confetti bomb goes off, with kazoos playing
The mean time between failures for ELAMS is unacceptable at 181 launches vs the required minimum 4166. The fact performance has been that bad and systems were still built into new ships is a red flag of corruption.
I would love to have been part of the design team to evaluate tradeoffs. A linear induction motor would not have been my first choice. ELAMS clearly have benefits on paper, but keeping an inferior solution until the issues are resolved is a bad idea.
In the MIC, the best solutions are subject to the worst executions and corruption.
It’s refreshing to see a reasonable take on the issue. A MTBF of 181 is crazy. My question is whether this change required a Presidential Executive Order?
That figure is outdated. MTBF is already up to 614 cycles between failures on more recent data aboard the Gerald Ford. This is still well short of the goal, but the system continues to improve.
This is all brought to you by the deep wisdom and understanding of Trump voters.
I have not noticed any wisdom on the part of this republican administration let alone “deep wisdom”.
Thanks for trying Nate!
Perhaps we can go back to horse and buggies, as well. And bows and arrows.
We need to revitalize the buggy whip industry. It’s a national emergency…
Definitely riding crops and knee-high jackboots will bring back the smell of victory, and warrior swagger. Hegseth should look into meth, as well.
He might, alcohol is THE gateway drug.
The one thing that I have to give Trump credit for, he really knows how to waste money.
I didn’t think it was possible for him to bankrupt the country in so short of time but he is really trying his best
The Orangutan has no best.
(like superman) He can
Bankrupt casinos (one of the most profitable ventures in the world) at a single bound
Bankrupt real estate holdings/developments (another profitable effort) faster that a speeding bullet
Ruin businesses like stopping a train.
Why not bankrupt a country????
I know SUBS to Trump’s building business and they told me 25 years ago that he simply refused to pay for Windows and Doors supplied where if ONE window had a flaw, his “team” would refuse to pay for the rest and then would say, “Take us to Court.” He bled one of my pal’s companies and my pal went under due to one giant supply of Metal doors…..NEVER PAID.
Mister anti-“lawfare” was also Plaintiff in Chief in thousands of lawsuits for decades, as outlined in the book of that name.
The country IS bankrupt. Financially and morally.
$40-80 trillion in debt. 70 years of wars/genocide….
This whole notion of “Super Carriers” is an anacronyms, a relic from the cold war era that has no real purpose in today’s age.
In an era of drone swarms and hypersonic missiles, carriers are nothing more than very expensive floating targets.
Time to scrap them all.
The result of an entire military establishment geared to defeating the Soviet Union in 1966. We must have the biggest aircraft carriers hauling around the coolest fighter jets, along with the fastest tanks and APCs so we can implement the Wehrmachts attacks on the Communists faster and better than Hitler did. But this time win! Of course all of it will last about a day in a war with China.
It will take an absolute disaster to fix this situation. The DOD has production plants in just about every electoral district in the country. Any changes will mean a loss of good-paying jobs! Admirals and Generals entire careers are built around battle plans using these ancient tools. Any change is a threat to their value. So the American taxpayer will be burdened with wildly excessive payments for wildly under-performing equipment. The momentum is too great, and our Presidents too weak and stupid.
That’s what happens when you welcome Nazis and make them your military advisors against the side that defeated them.
The problem will go away after the boomer gen dies off. Younger gens have no interest in overblown defense.
I sincerely hope that is true.
Failure of those in positions of power and authority to acknowledge and adapt to change is a recurring theme. Consider the following statement made in 1926 by the former cavalry officer and architect of the Battle of the Somme:
“I believe that the value of the horse and the opportunity for the horse in the future are likely to be as great as ever. Aeroplanes and tanks are only accessories to the men and the horse, and I feel sure that as time goes on you will find just as much use for the horse—the well-bred horse—as you have ever done in the past.”
Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig
The man who bought us the slaughter at the Somme.
Don’t knock horses.
The Wehrmacht [WW2] depended on tens of thousands of horses.
A lot of field artillery was hauled by horse as they moved through Poland and Belarus/Russia.
It doesn’t accord with the movies and our mental picture.
I too found it disconcerting to read.
Agree.
However, their task has evolved into being a floating platform for creating havoc against smaller countries around the world. Another reason for getting rid of them.
Ai designed bioweapons will supplant the drones before we know it!
And chemical weapons.
Anyone who doesn’t think this nation is retarded should kindly view the story above and try to explain to themselves how this fine example of American intellect was elected by popular vote. This is what this nation deserves.
Rather, steam punk fits the US quite well as a decadent empire.
They cheated.
Although I am not deep in the details of the systems, but there is certainly an indication that the US Army is love with hypercomplex high-tech.
However, such over-sophisticated systems might perform impressive under “lab conditions”, in reality the battlefield speaks a different language.
I served on a carrier (not as Captain, that’s just an unfortunate nickname bestowed upon me for being too hairy) and let me tell you, the four steam catapults onboard were something else. Curiously, when an airplane lands, even a large one, it is almost a non-event as far as the below-decks crew are concerned. However, the jolt of an airplane being launched is felt by all 5000-6000 people aboard, every time. The reason is that the shuttle that hooks on to the landing gear and flings the plane forward (thanks to the steam piston on the deck immediately below the flight deck) must stop very abruptly after the plane breaks free. I think Trump may be responding to the rumored persistent complaints about the reliability of the newfangled electromagnetic system on the Gerald Ford class ships. He may be right on this one thing imo.
you said newfangled
Because compared to steam catapults on carriers, the new system is just that.
In the automotive mechanical business old techs always complain about new technologies while younger techs go about learning about it.
I once had an old tech arguing after he had misdiagnosed an issue, he started with “I have 29 years experience” I replied, “no you have one year of experience, 29 times”.
I know nothing about the launch system on a modern aircraft carrier and I doubt trump does either. This issue should be left up to experts that have no financial interest in the game.
C’mon pokercat, the entire entire Internet is based upon the idea of people with zero knowledge about a field expounding at length on the topic.
lol…my time in automotive tech was long before the internet or even desktop computers.
It’s funny to me that you think that something as fundamental as the WAY that aircraft carriers perform their PRIMARY mission (and have done so for over half a century) bears any resemblance at all to automotive techs not wanting to learn a new gizmo under the hood of a Chevy. These catapults have to be ultra-reliable and I’ve heard for years now that the magnetic launchers have disadvantages that might just warrant a reversion back to the trusted tech. I’m not saying that as if I know one way or another, just that it would make a lot of sense if those reports are true. I’m not praising Trump, just saying he could be correct about this.
So Trump is now a nautical engineer?
He must be a Stable Genius.
You know, even morons can make the right call every once and a while. Don’t mistake my claim that he is probably correct with praise.
It would be one thing and acceptable if trump said this needs to be checked out by objective engineers and scientists with no financial interest, but instead he says I want them changed and that’s it.
I’m sure that steam catapults were ultra-reliable in the very early years as well. Maybe they should have reversed that decision to the previous evolution rather than to improve over time.
Trump could save a fortune on the new steam catapults by giving the contract to the guy who installed his trap-shooting clay launcher at Mar-a-Lago.
Or whoever made Dick Cheney’s shotgun. Worked like a charm every time.
He might do that, but only if that contractor guy had appeared on Fox News at least once, thus qualifying him for that job — or any other job! (BTW, AI has already somehow seen your post. I had no idea that its “knowledge”, for lack of a better word, was updated within hours, based on information posted even in comment sections.)