CVN-81.COMPRESERVE THE NAMECVN-81.COMPRESERVE THE NAMEAn enlisted sailor whose courage at Pearl Harbor became part of American naval history.
Doris Miller was serving aboard USS West Virginia on December 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor came under attack. He helped move wounded shipmates, including the ship's captain, and then manned an anti-aircraft weapon despite not having been formally trained to operate it.
In May 1942, Admiral Chester Nimitz presented Miller the Navy Cross for his actions. Miller was the first Black American to receive the decoration.
Miller later served aboard USS Indianapolis and USS Liscome Bay. He was killed when Liscome Bay was sunk during operations in the Gilbert Islands on November 24, 1943.
Admiral Chester W. Nimitz presents Mess Attendant Second Class Doris Miller the Navy Cross on the flight deck of USS Enterprise (CV-6), Pearl Harbor, May 27, 1942. Official U.S. Navy photograph 80-G-23588, National Archives.
When the Navy announced CVN-81's name in 2020, it said the ship would be the first aircraft carrier named for an African American and the first carrier named in honor of a sailor for actions while serving in the enlisted ranks.
Official Doris Miller SourcesCVN-81 is the second U.S. Navy ship named in Miller's honor. The first was USS Miller (DE-1091, later FF-1091), a Knox-class frigate commissioned in 1973 and decommissioned in 1991.
The Naval History and Heritage Command documents both USS Miller and the future USS Doris Miller as ships named in his honor.