Trump’s convinced he knows the best way to design aircraft carriers
Donald Trump did a bizarre thing aboard the USS Wasp on Tuesday. After wishing the sailors “a very Happy Memorial Day,” the President conducted an impromptu poll, asking the crowd who preferred steam-powered catapult systems and who preferred electric. Steam won out in the poll, and now, Trump says he’s going to order old-fashioned steam catapults be installed on new American aircraft carriers. Trump evidently thinks the Navy is trying to innovate too much.
The question of which kind of catapult to use on aircraft carriers is, weirdly enough, one of Trump’s obsessions. The president launched into his catapult rant pretty early in his speech to the crew members of the USS Wasp, an amphibious assault vessel with a homeport in Japan.
“So then, let me ask you a question,” Trump said. “Catapult — right? The catapult system. Do you like electric or steam?”
When he said “electric,” Trump is referring to the electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS) that the Navy has been developing in an effort to modernize its aircraft carrier fleet. This new catapult uses a linear induction motor to launch aircraft off of ships. The technology is similar to what’s currently used for maglev trains and has several advantages over the steam-powered catapults that have been used on aircraft carriers since the 1950s. But Trump really likes how America worked before the civil rights movement, so he’d prefer the Navy’s aircraft carriers to keep the old way alive: [Continue reading…]