Pentagon removes US Navy Secretary John Phelan

The Pentagon has removed US Navy Secretary John Phelan with immediate effect, according to US officials. His departure comes amid wider leadership changes and pressure to speed up American shipbuilding.

WASHINGTON: US Navy Secretary John Phelan has been removed from his post, according to a US official and a person familiar with the matter, marking another senior-level change at the Pentagon during an ongoing period of upheaval in the department.

The Pentagon confirmed his departure in a brief statement, saying he was leaving the administration effective immediately. The statement did not give a reason for the move or say whether the decision had been his own.

According to the two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Phelan was dismissed in part because he was seen as moving too slowly on reforms aimed at accelerating shipbuilding. They also said he had strained ties with senior Pentagon figures.

One of the sources said those tensions involved Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Hegseth’s deputy Steve Feinberg, and the Navy’s No 2 civilian official Hung Cao. The Pentagon said Cao will now serve as acting Navy secretary.

The same source also cited an ethics investigation into Phelan’s office.

Phelan, a billionaire regarded as having close ties to President Donald Trump, is the first service secretary appointed by the administration to be fired since Trump returned to office last year.

His removal comes against the backdrop of broader instability in Pentagon leadership under Hegseth. The department has already seen the dismissal last year of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C Q Brown, as well as the chief of naval operations and the Air Force vice chief of staff.

On April 2, Hegseth also removed Army Chief of Staff Randy George without publicly stating a reason. Two US officials said that decision was linked to tensions between Hegseth and Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll.

Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, described Phelan’s dismissal as troubling.

“I am concerned it is yet another example of the instability and dysfunction that have come to define the Department of Defence under President Trump and Secretary Hegseth”, he stated.

The latest leadership change comes during a tense ceasefire with Iran, as the United States sends additional naval assets to the Middle East. The US military is relying on naval forces to enforce a blockade of Iran, which President Donald Trump hopes will push Tehran to negotiate an end to the conflict on his terms.

The Navy is also facing pressure to grow its fleet as China’s shipbuilding capacity now far exceeds that of the United States, which was once a dominant force in the sector.

Trump’s proposed $1.5 trillion defence budget for fiscal year 2027 includes more than $65 billion for the procurement of 18 warships and 16 support vessels to be built by General Dynamics and Huntington Ingalls Industries. The Pentagon has described the plan as part of the Golden Fleet initiative, which officials say is the largest shipbuilding request since 1962.