John Phelan, shown here testifying in June 2025 during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, is leaving his post as secretary of the Navy. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — Secretary of the Navy John Phelan is leaving his position effective immediately, the Pentagon announced Wednesday night.
“On behalf of the Secretary of War (Pete Hegseth) and Deputy Secretary of War (Steve Feinberg), we are grateful to Secretary Phelan for his service to the Department and the United States Navy,” chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a post on X, using the administration’s preferred term for the Department of Defense. “We wish him well in his future endeavors.”
Under Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao will become Acting Secretary of the Navy, Parnell said.
The reason for Phelan’s departure is not clear. Stars and Stripes could not immediately reach Phelan’s office for comment.
The Pentagon will look to replace a service secretary for the first time during President Donald Trump’s second term.
The change comes one day after the Pentagon released its $1.5 trillion budget proposal. The Navy would get $377.5 billion to pay for everything from more ballistic missile submarines to new military housing projects.
At the top of the wish list are two new kinds of ships — a BBG (X), the first “Trump-class” guided-missile battleship; and the FFX, the first of a new type of frigate based on a Coast Guard cutter design.
The battleship is at the center of Trump’s “Golden Fleet” plan, which also includes the new frigate to be modeled on a modified Coast Guard National Security Cutter. It replaces the planned Constellation-class frigate that was scuttled by Phelan late last year.
Trump has made shipbuilding a focus of his second term, vowing to build commercial and military ships “very fast, very soon” to keep pace with China’s growing naval fleet and challenge its dominance in the commercial shipbuilding market.
Phelan’s departure also comes as the U.S. Navy has imposed a blockade of Iranian ports and is targeting ships linked to Tehran around the world as the ceasefire in the Iran war continues.
Phelan had not served in the military or had a civilian leadership role in the service before Trump nominated him for secretary in late 2024.
Phelan’s only connection to the military was through an advisory role for the Spirit of America, a nonprofit that works with troops and diplomats to deliver assistance to communities affected by conflict.
He was a major donor to President Donald Trump’s 2024 reelection campaign and said during his confirmation hearing in February 2025 that Trump often texted him in the middle of the night to complain about rusty warships.
Phelan also committed during his confirmation to passing a department-wide audit and growing the Navy’s enlisted ranks.
He was confirmed to the post in March 2025.
Since Trump’s return to office, a slate of the most senior military officers has been removed or retired.
Earlier this month, Hegseth asked Army Chief of Staff Randy George to step down, and he fired two other Army generals.
Some of the other firings include Air Force Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the chief of naval operations; Adm. Linda Fagan, the commandant of the Coast Guard; and Air Force Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.
Cao graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and served in the Navy for 25 years, deploying with special operations forces to defuse bombs in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia and working on the Navy budget process during assignments to the Pentagon.
He retired at the rank of captain before turning to politics.
In 2022, Cao ran unsuccessfully for Virginia’s 10th Congressional District and in 2024 lost the Senate election to Sen. Tim Kaine, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Seapower subcommittee.
