Fact-check: “Donald Trump is ordering the Navy to stop using an electromagnetic catapult system to launch fighter jets from its aircraft carriers and return to the age of steam.”
Verdict: Mostly True (93% confidence)
A White House National Security Presidential Memorandum dated August 13, 2026 explicitly directs the Pentagon to plan the replacement of EMALS and Advanced Weapons Elevators with steam and hydraulic systems on CVN-81 (USS Doris Miller), and multiple independent outlets including Reuters, AP, and The Guardian confirmed the order. The claim is accurate in its core assertion but slightly imprecise: the order applies to CVN-81 and future carriers, not to existing Ford-class carriers already equippe…
This fact-check was conducted by SpinkillerAI, a non-partisan AI-powered accountability platform.
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