The Navy's new $13 billion supercarriers have a high-tech feature that is apparently driving Trump crazy

In a call to service members on Thanksgiving last year, Trump brought up his problem with the catapults, quizzing a sailor on the new catapults.

"So when you do the new carriers, as we do and as we're thinking about doing, would you go with steam, or would you go with electromagnetic?" Trump asked. "Because steam is very reliable, and the electromagnetic, I mean, unfortunately you have to be Albert Einstein to really work it properly. What would you do?"

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"Yes sir, you sort of have to be Albert Einstein to run the nuclear power plant that we have here as well, but we're doing that very well," the sailor replied, "Mr. President, I would go electromagnetic."

At Tuesday's NRCC dinner, Trump relayed his conversations with those involved in the catapult development, stating that they prefer steam.

During a FEMA meeting on hurricane preparedness last summer, the president unexpectedly brought up his concerns about the EMALS on the Ford.

He criticized the military for buying new and unnecessary technology.

Read More: Trump revisited his disdain for the Navy's 'ridiculous' new aircraft-launching system during an unrelated meeting about hurricane response

"They want to have all new. Instead of having the system that throws the aircraft off the [ship], which was always steam," Trump said during the 40-minute meeting touching on a number of unrelated topics. "They now have magnets. They're using magnets instead of steam."

"They spent hundreds of millions of dollars, I'm hearing not great things about it," he added. "It's frankly ridiculous."

At a Republican fundraiser dinner in the fall of 2017, Trump randomly criticized the new aircraft launch system on the Ford-class carriers, comparing the high-end system to car seat controls.

Read More: 'You have to be a computer genius': Trump likened the Navy's new catapult technology to learning the seat controls in a new car

"It's like when you get a new car and you have to be a computer genius to fix your seat," he said. "The seat's moving all over the place, it's unbelievable."

Trump first made his thoughts on EMALS crystal clear in an interview with TIME magazine shortly after taking office.

"You know the catapult is quite important," Trump said, explaining that he was told the Navy was going with a "digital catapult system" to "keep up with modern technology."

He said he had heard that the new system was not performing as well as the steam system.

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"It sounded bad to me," the president said. "Digital. They have digital. What is digital? And it’s very complicated, you have to be Albert Einstein to figure it out."

When he was told that the future carriers would feature the EMALS, he supposedly said, "No you’re not. You going to goddamned steam, the digital costs hundreds of millions of dollars more money and it’s no good."