Reuters: Dismissal of the US Secretary of the Navy

A US official and a source told Reuters on Wednesday that Secretary of the Navy John Phelan was removed from his post, in another change taking place in the US Department of Defense (the Pentagon) during wartime, a few weeks after Secretary Pete Hegseth fired the highest general in the army.

The Pentagon announced Phelan’s departure in a brief statement, saying he was leaving the administration “with immediate effect.” But he did not give a reason for this or clarify whether he was the one who made the decision to leave.

The two sources, who requested to remain anonymous, said that the reasons for Phelan’s dismissal included the extreme slowness in implementing reforms aimed at accelerating shipbuilding, and the existence of a dispute with the senior leadership in the Pentagon.

One of the sources pointed to poor relations with Hegseth and his deputy, Steve Feinberg, as well as with the Navy’s second-in-command, Hong Kao, who the Pentagon said will now assume the position of acting Secretary of the Navy.

The source also attributed the decision to an ethics investigation in Phelan’s office.

Phelan, a billionaire who is believed to have a close relationship with President Donald Trump, is the first military secretary chosen by the administration to be removed from his post since Trump returned to the presidency last year.

His departure comes in a broader context of turmoil at all levels of leadership at the Pentagon under Hegseth, including the dismissal last year of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force Gen. C.Q. Brown, as well as the Chief of Naval Operations and the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force.

On April 2, Hegseth fired Army Chief of Staff Randy George without giving a reason. Two American officials said that the decision was related to tension between Hegseth and Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll.

These developments occur amid a tense ceasefire with Iran, at a time when the United States is moving more naval assets to deploy in the Middle East.

The US military relies on naval assets to impose a blockade on Iran, and Trump hopes that this will pressure Tehran to negotiate an end to the conflict on his terms.

The Navy is under intense pressure to expand its fleet. China’s shipbuilding industry now outstrips its counterpart in the United States, which was once a global power.

Trump’s $1.5 trillion defense budget request for fiscal year 2027 includes more than $65 billion to purchase 18 warships and 16 support ships.

All of this is within the framework of what the Pentagon calls the “Golden Fleet” initiative, which officials describe as the largest shipbuilding order since 1962.