Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth removed Navy Secretary John Phelan from his post on Wednesday, the Pentagon announced, marking the first dismissal of a military service secretary during President Trump’s second term and adding to a sweeping reshaping of the nation’s top defense leadership.
Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed the departure via social media, stating that Phelan’s exit was effective immediately. Parnell thanked Phelan on behalf of the Secretary of Defense and the Deputy Secretary of Defense for his service to the department and the United States Navy, and wished him well in his future endeavors. Navy Undersecretary Hung Cao, a special operations veteran and Naval Academy graduate who completed a 25-year career with deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia, will serve as acting Navy secretary.
Phelan, a financier and founder of investment firm Rugger Management LLC, was confirmed as the Navy’s 79th secretary in March 2025 by a 62-30 Senate vote. He had no prior military experience, making him just the seventh non-veteran to hold the role in the past 70 years. He was also the first service secretary nominee announced by Trump after returning to the White House.
The Pentagon provided no official reason for the dismissal. A senior administration official said President Trump and Hegseth agreed that new leadership at the Navy was needed. Administration officials said Hegseth notified Phelan of the decision before the public announcement, though three people familiar with the matter said Phelan learned of his firing only when he saw the announcement posted publicly. The timing was striking: Phelan had just delivered a keynote address and spoken with reporters at the Navy League’s annual Sea-Air-Space conference near Washington, where he discussed plans to double the Navy’s vessel requests as outlined in the proposed fiscal year 2027 defense budget.
Behind the scenes, tensions had been building for months. Administration officials said Hegseth was frustrated that Phelan was not moving fast enough to advance Trump’s shipbuilding agenda — an initiative associated with plans for a dramatically expanded fleet — and that Phelan had communicated directly with Trump in ways Hegseth viewed as bypassing the chain of command. Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg was also seeking expanded authority over shipbuilding and naval acquisitions, an area central to Phelan’s portfolio.
Phelan’s removal comes as the U.S. Navy is actively enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports and maintaining a heavy presence in the Strait of Hormuz, a passageway for roughly 20 percent of global oil and gas traffic during peacetime. Just days before the announcement, a Navy destroyer in the Arabian Sea fired on a cargo vessel attempting to reach an Iranian port. The firing of Phelan is the latest in a series of high-profile exits at the Pentagon: Hegseth has relieved more than a dozen senior military officers since taking office, including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Chief of Naval Operations.
South Carolina’s congressional delegation has a direct stake in Navy leadership and shipbuilding policy. Sen. Lindsey Graham serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which oversees Pentagon personnel decisions and defense contracts. Rep. Joe Wilson of SC-2 and Rep. Sheri Biggs of SC-3 also hold seats on the House Armed Services Committee. Rep. William Timmons, who represents Spartanburg’s SC-4 district, sits on the House Oversight Committee, which has jurisdiction over executive branch management — including how the administration handles leadership vacuums at the service secretary level during an active naval conflict.
