The U.S. Navy is considering putting President Donald Trump's name on an aircraft carrier currently named after Doris Miller, according to a CNN report published Thursday.

CNN reported that the Navy has effectively stopped internally referring to the ship as the USS Doris Miller, and an anonymous source told the network that the effort to rename the vessel has been underway since earlier this year.

The possible change has drawn sharp criticism. "Who could possibly be surprised that Donald Trump thinks that he's more befitting an honor like this than a World War II and American war hero?" Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) said during a CNN interview on Thursday. "Doris Miller, this is a man. Donald Trump is a five-time draft dodger. He's called veterans suckers and losers. He refused to go to an American military cemetery in Europe because it was raining."

Miller is known for his actions during the attack on Pearl Harbor, CNN noted. At the time of Japan's December 7, 1941 attack, Miller was a mess attendant second class aboard the battleship USS West Virginia — one of the few roles open to Black sailors at the time — and, despite no training on the weapon, he manned an anti-aircraft gun and carried wounded sailors, including the ship's mortally wounded captain, to safety. The actions made him the first Black American to receive the Navy Cross. A Thursday segment with Jake Tapper pointed out that Miller was depicted in the 2001 movie "Pearl Harbor" because of his effort to defend U.S. forces from Japan's attack. Miller was killed in November 1943, when the escort carrier USS Liscome Bay, where he was then serving, was torpedoed and sunk in the Pacific.

It remains unclear when the Navy plans to change the carrier's name. Two anonymous sources told CNN that the Navy has had internal conversations about renaming the ship to honor Trump. CNN described the potential change as an "unprecedented move" because an aircraft carrier has never been named after a sitting president. Navy carriers have traditionally carried the names of U.S. presidents — the current Ford class includes ships honoring Gerald R. Ford and John F. Kennedy — along with other historic figures.

The carrier, designated CVN-81, is a future Gerald R. Ford-class nuclear ship still under construction at Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia and not expected to join the fleet until the 2030s. When the Navy announced the name in January 2020, it said the Doris Miller would be the first aircraft carrier named for an African American and the first named for an enlisted sailor. The report also comes amid other Pentagon renaming actions this year, including the renaming of the USNS Harvey Milk, a fleet oiler honoring the gay rights leader and Navy veteran. Under Navy practice, ship names are formally determined by the secretary of the Navy.

"I really hope this is not true," Crow said. "My hopes are repeatedly dashed under the Trump administration, so it probably is. And we'll fight it like we do many of the other egregious things they do."

The possible renaming follows Trump's recent order for the USS Doris Miller to rip out its electromagnetic catapults and replace them with steam-powered systems, a change expected to cost billions of dollars. The Ford class was designed around an electromagnetic aircraft launch system rather than the steam catapults used on earlier Nimitz-class carriers, technology Trump has criticized since his first term.

According to one source who spoke to CNN, the Navy is looking to rename another warship after Miller. The service is also planning to recommend Miller for the Medal of Honor, the highest decoration for military valor. Any award would be posthumous, and supporters have long campaigned for Miller's Navy Cross to be upgraded.