Speaking aboard the USS George Washington aircraft carrier during his tour of East Asia, the president appeared to suggest"in a largely incoherent speech"that he is pushing for aircraft carriers to use "steam for the catapults" and hydraulics for elevators, while wrongly claiming that water can disable magnets. The elderly president was talking about the magnetic catapults used to launch planes from the latest Navy super carriers, the USS Gerald R. Ford class, and the electromagnetic elevators used to move weaponry to the flight deck. Both systems double the speed with which planes can be armed and launched but slowed the delivery and commissioning of the $13 billion flagship of the class. "You know, the new thing is magnets. So instead of using hydraulic that can be hit by lightning and it's fine. You take a little glass of water, you drop it on magnets, I don't know what's going to happen," Trump said.