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WASHINGTON – Navy Secretary John Phelan has been fired, a US official and a person familiar with the matter said on April 22, in another wartime shake-up at the Pentagon coming just weeks after Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth ousted the Army’s top general.
The Pentagon announced his departure in a brief statement, saying he was leaving the administration “effective immediately”.
But it did not provide a reason or say whether it was his decision to go.
His firing was first reported by Reuters.
The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Mr Phelan was dismissed in part because he was moving too slowly to implement reforms to speed shipbuilding and because he had fallen out with key Pentagon leadership.
One source cited bad relationships with Mr Hegseth, his deputy Steve Feinberg, as well as the Navy’s No. 2 civilian, Mr Hung Cao, who the Pentagon said will now take over as acting Navy secretary.
The source also cited an ethics investigation into Mr Phelan’s office.
A billionaire seen as having close ties to US President Donald Trump, Mr Phelan is the first administration-picked service secretary to be fired since Mr Trump returned to office in 2025.
His departure fits within a broader context of upheaval at all levels of leadership at the Pentagon under Mr Hegseth’s watch, including the firing in 2025 of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C.Q. Brown, as well as the chief of naval operations Lisa Franchetti and Air Force vice-chief of staff James Slife.
On April 2, Mr Hegseth fired US Army Chief of Staff Randy George without citing a reason.
Two US officials said the decision was tied to tensions between Mr Hegseth and Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll.
The latest departure comes during a tense ceasefire with Iran, as the US flows more naval assets into the Middle East.
The US military is relying on naval assets to carry out a blockade of Iran, which Mr Trump is hoping 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 dwarfs the US, which was once a global powerhouse.
Mr Trump’s US$1.5 trillion (S$1.9 trillion) defence budget request for fiscal year 2027 includes over US$65 billion to procure 18 warships and 16 support ships made by General Dynamics and Huntington Ingalls Industries.
It is part of what the Pentagon is calling the Golden Fleet initiative, which officials say is the largest shipbuilding request since 1962. REUTERS
