神秘水手之谜：他如何促使特朗普改革海军一次偶然的相遇促使总统改革航母舰队——并促使五角大楼展开对难以捉摸的“比尔·琼斯”的追踪发布于：2026年10月13日，09:33:43 IST偏好在谷歌上使用HT通过复制链接分享八月，特朗普总统指示海军弄清楚如何让航空母舰重新使用蒸汽弹射器将战斗机弹射入空中。
The Mystery of the Unknown Sailor Who Inspired Trump to Shake Up the Navy A chance encounter pushed the president to revamp the carrier fleet—and sent the Pentagon on a hunt for the elusive “Bill Jones.”Published on: Oct 13, 2026, 09:33:43 IST Prefer HT on Google Share via Copy link In August, President Trump directed the Navy to figure out how to return to using steam catapults on aircraft carriers to hurl fighter jets into the air.
特朗普曾将此人描述为一名“弹射器操作员”，他在海军服役25年，喜欢蒸汽的气味。
Trump has described the man as a “catapulter” who served in the Navy for 25 years and loves the smell of steam.
对美国军方官员而言，这一命令标志着一个老对手的回归：比尔·琼斯。
For U.S. military officials, the order marked the return of an old foe: Bill Jones.
正是如此。特朗普曾将此人描述为一名“弹射器操作员”，他在海军服役25年，喜欢蒸汽的气味。琼斯说服特朗普认为旧技术优于现代喷气式飞机发射方法，总统如此表示。
Exactly. Trump has described the man as a “catapulter” who served in the Navy for 25 years and loves the smell of steam. Jones convinced Trump the old technology was superior to modern methods of launching jets, the president said.
此事促使海军领导层展开对琼斯的搜寻，以弄清他所说的话为何促使总统要求对历史上最昂贵的武器项目之一进行全面改革。根据国防官员的说法，他们从未找到他。但他们仍在应对这位神秘水手及其与总统偶然相遇所带来的后果。
The incident sent Navy leaders searching for Jones to figure out what he said that prompted the president to demand an overhaul of one of the most expensive weapons programs in history. They never found him, according to defense officials. But they’re still dealing with the consequences of the mystery sailor and his chance encounter with the president.
这一切始于特朗普首个任期刚过几个月时，他正在弗吉尼亚州参观海军最新航母——杰拉尔德·R·福特号（USS Gerald R. Ford）。
It all started just months into Trump’s first term when he was in Virginia touring the USS Gerald R. Ford, the newest aircraft carrier in the Navy’s fleet.
正是在2017年参观杰拉尔德·R·福特号时，特朗普称灵感由此诞生。
It was during a tour of the USS Gerald R. Ford in in 2017 when Trump says the idea was born.
这艘军舰是世界上最大的航母，也是其级别的首舰，建造成本约为190亿美元，但在八年的建造过程中，由于安装了尖端但未经验证的技术，它经历了诸多问题。工期严重滞后，超支数十亿美元。
This warship, the largest in the world and first in its class, cost about $19 billion but had experienced myriad problems over eight years of construction as cutting-edge, but unproven, technology was installed on the ship. It was years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget.
特朗普似乎很渴望将他的房地产经验应用到五角大楼采购这个令人眼花缭乱的复杂世界。他说，他厌倦了听海军上将们的借口，想听操作机械的人们的意见。
Trump seemed eager to apply his real-estate experience to the dazzlingly complex world of Pentagon procurement. He has said he grew tired of hearing excuses from the admirals and he wanted to hear from the people who operate the machinery.
“我说，‘让我看看弹射人员，’”特朗普在2019年4月的一次演讲中回忆道，“他们说，‘先生，您真的不想这么做吗？’我说，‘是啊，这些人才知道他们到底在干什么。’”然后事情就发生了。
“I said, ‘Let me see the catapult people,’” Trump recalled during an April 2019 speech“They said, ‘Sir, you don’t really want to do that?’ I said, ‘Yeah, those are the people that know what the hell they’re doing.’”Then it happened.
总统说，一名水手告诉他，海军放弃使用经过验证的蒸汽弹射方法是在犯错误。决定使用电磁系统更快、更高效地发射飞机，正在让海军走向失败。
The president said a sailor told him the Navy was making a mistake by ditching the tried-and-true method of using steam catapults. The decision to use an electromagnetic system to launch planes faster and more efficiently was dooming the service to failure.
亚伯拉罕·林肯号航空母舰正在阿拉伯海使用蒸汽弹射进行飞行作业。（美国海军）特朗普说，这名水手告诉他，如果电磁弹射出故障，需要麻省理工学院的天才来修理，而蒸汽版只需用锤子和氧气焊枪就能修好。行业官员表示，这两种描述都极大地简化了问题。
The USS Abraham Lincoln uses a steam catapult to conduct flight operations in the Arabian Sea. (US Navy) Trump has said the sailor told him if the electric catapults break you need geniuses from MIT to repair them, while the steam version can be fixed with a hammer and blowtorch. Industry officials said both descriptions vastly oversimplify things.
根据前国防官员的说法，在此次会面后，海军官员匆忙向总统解释为何选择这些技术以及为何移除它们会造成极大的干扰。
After the encounter, Navy officials scrambled to explain to the president why the technologies were chosen and why removing them would be extremely disruptive, according to former defense officials.
2018年11月感恩节期间，特朗普在给正服役于罗纳德·里根号航空母舰的水手们的通话中询问了该舰指挥官对蒸汽弹射和电磁弹射的看法。当时的帕特里克·汉尼芬上校，如今是负责西太平洋和印度洋海军力量的三星上将，告诉特朗普，虽然蒸汽弹射目前很可靠，但他更倾向于电磁弹射。
During a Thanksgiving call in November 2018 to sailors aboard the USS Ronald Reagan, an older Nimitz-class carrier with steam catapults, Trump asked the ship’s commanding officer his opinion of steam versus electric catapults. Then-Capt. Patrick Hannifin, now a three-star admiral in charge of naval forces in the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans, told Trump that while steam is reliable now, he preferred electromagnetic catapults.
当特朗普质问汉尼芬：“要正确操作这些设备，你得像阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦一样聪明才行吧？”时，汉尼芬回答道：“其实要管理我们这里的核电站也需要具备类似的能力，但我们做得非常出色。”特朗普称赞道：“这确实是个很好的回答。”这个问题似乎就此被搁置了。然而，随着特朗普成功连任，这个问题又重新浮出水面。
When Trump pressed Hannifin that “you have to be Albert Einstein” to operate them properly, the captain responded: “You sort of have to be Albert Einstein to run the nuclear power plants that we have here as well, but we’re doing that very well.”Trump said “that’s actually a very good answer.”The issue seemed to go away. It came roaring back as Trump sought and won re-election.
2024年1月，在艾奥瓦州梅森市的一场集会上，特朗普提到了琼斯的名字；2025年2月，在任命图尔西·加巴德为国家情报局局长时，他又再次提到了这些电动弹射器。
He mentioned Jones by name during a January 2024 rally in Mason City, Iowa. Then in February 2025, Trump brought up the electric catapults when he swore in Tulsi Gabbard to be the director of national intelligence.
业内有传言称特朗普会签署行政命令，要求海军重新使用蒸汽动力系统，但最终什么都没有发生——直到今年夏天。
There were rumors among industry insiders that Trump would sign an executive order telling the Navy to return to steam, but nothing happened—until this summer.
8月，特朗普签署了一份国家安全备忘录，要求海军研究在CVN-81号航空母舰上安装蒸汽弹射器和液压升降系统的成本及时间表。这艘航空母舰预计将于2034年加入海军舰队。
In August, Trump signed a national security memorandum directing the Navy to figure out the cost and timeline for installing steam catapults and hydraulic elevators in the ship currently known as CVN 81, expected to join the fleet in 2034.
一位政府官员表示：“由于福特级航空母舰的建造进度缓慢，海军必须采用经过时间考验的技术来简化其设计。”
The Navy isn’t getting its Ford-class carriers fast enough, and must simplify their design by using time- and battle-tested technology, an administration official said.
自2009年USS乔治·H·W·布什号航空母舰加入海军舰队以来，美国海军就再也没有建造过使用蒸汽动力的航空母舰了。
It hasn’t built a carrier with steam since the USS George H.W. Bush, which entered the fleet in 2009.
更麻烦的是，前海军部长卡洛斯·德尔·托罗的海洋战略专家亨特·斯泰尔斯指出：“蒸汽弹射器早已停产多年，现在已经没有人生产这种设备了。”自特朗普签署该备忘录以来，海军高层在公开讲话中都非常谨慎：“如果我们真的要重新使用蒸汽动力和液压系统，我们必须全面了解这样做所需的全部成本，”海军作战部长达里尔·考德尔上将在里诺举行的一场会议上表示，“这将是一个重大的设计变革。”
More problematic: “Steam catapults have been out of production for decades—no one makes them anymore,” said Hunter Stires, the maritime strategist to former Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro. Since the order, Navy leaders have couched their public remarks. “If we were to go back to steam and hydraulics with the elevators, we need to really understand the total cost of that,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm.
他还提到，2月份对福特级航空母舰上的电磁弹射器进行的测试表明，其性能优于传统的蒸汽弹射器。
Daryl Caudle said at a conference in Reno, according to USNI News“That will be a significant design change.”
2020年1月，一架飞机在杰拉尔德·R·福特号航空母舰上通过电磁弹射装置起飞。（Marcus Weisgerber/WSJ）分析师和行业内部人士表示，新系统在未来战争中可能更有效，因为它能够发射携带炸弹的飞机和无人机。
He said a February stress test of the Ford’s electromagnetic launchers showed they outperformed their steam peers. An aircraft taking off via electric catapult on the USS Gerald R. Ford in January 2020. (Marcus Weisgerber/WSJ) Analysts and industry insiders say the new system could be more effective for future warfare since it could launch bomb-laden aircraft and drones.
造船专家担心，在航母上重新使用蒸汽弹射装置会让美国海军在技术上落后于中国。代理海军部长洪·卡奥警告官员们不要质疑总统的决定。
Shipbuilding experts worry putting steam back on a carrier would put the Navy technologically behind China. Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao has warned officials not to question the president’s decision.
他写道：“要明确的是，关于我们是否这样做的争论已经结束。”他在8月28日的备忘录中提到，这包括更广泛的一套建议，其中涉及蒸汽弹射装置。“我们现在的任务是提供如何实施的计划。”考虑到该舰在特朗普卸任前不会完工，而民主党预计将在中期选举中夺取国会至少一个议院的控制权，因此配备旧式弹射装置的新舰实际加入舰队的可能性大幅下降。尽管如此，海军仍在推进这一计划。
“To be clear, the debate on whether we do this has ended,” he wrote in an Aug. 28 memo, referring to a broader set of recommendations including the steam catapults. “Our task now is to provide the plan on how to implement.”Given the ship won’t be completed before Trump is set to leave office, and Democrats are expected to gain control of at least one chamber of Congress in the midterms, the chance that a new ship with the old catapults actually joins the fleet drops significantly. Still, the Navy is steaming ahead.
“这可能最终成为一项源于一名水手与总统互动的数十亿美元变革，”华盛顿智库赫德森研究所的海军专家布莱恩·克拉克说。“当你想想一个人所产生的影响力程度时，这确实有点疯狂。”特朗普曾亲自参与多个其他项目，从新的空军一号和一类高科技战舰，到位于白宫顶部的未来主义军事无人机港。
“This could ultimately be a multibillion-dollar change that was resulting from largely this one sailor’s interaction with the president,” said Bryan Clark, a naval expert with the Hudson Institute, a Washington think tank. “Which is kind of crazy when you think about the level of impact a single person had.”Trump has gotten personally involved in several other projects, from the new Air Force One and a class of high-tech battleships to a futuristic military drone port on the top of the White House.
为寻找神秘的比尔·琼斯，《华尔街日报》联系了现任和前任海军官员、立法者、白宫助理和行业高管。所有被联系的人都不知道这名水手的身份。
In an attempt to find the mysterious Bill Jones, The Wall Street Journal contacted current and former Navy officials, lawmakers, White House aides and industry executives. No one who was contacted knows the sailor’s identity.
一名海军发言人表示，如果没有他的出生日期或其他身份信息，“我们无法在记录中准确定位这名水手。”请将信件发送至 marcus.weisgerber@wsj.com 以联系 Marcus Weisgerber。获取来自美国、英国、巴基斯坦、孟加拉国、俄罗斯及其他国家的最新世界新闻、突发头条和全球动态。关注《印度斯坦时报》上的重大国际事件。Home World News See Less
A Navy spokesman said that without his date of birth or other identifying information, it “cannot accurately locate this Sailor in our records.”Write to Marcus Weisgerber at marcus.weisgerber@wsj.com Get the latest World News, breaking headlines and global updates from the US, UK, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Russia and other countries. Follow major international events on Hindustan Times. Home World News See Less