US Navy Secretary John Phelan speaks about the US Navy’s new Golden Fleet initiative, unveiling a new class of warships, at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on Dec. 22, 2025.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images
Secretary of the Navy John Phelan is leaving the Trump administration “effective immediately,” a spokesman for the Department of Defense said in a statement Wednesday.
The spokesman, Sean Parnell, did not provide an explanation for Phelan’s sudden departure. Reuters, citing a source familiar with the matter, reported later Wednesday that Phelan had been fired.
“On behalf of the Secretary of War and Deputy Secretary of War, we are grateful to Secretary Phelan for his service to the Department and the United States Navy,” Parnell said in an X post. “We wish him well in his future endeavors.”
Navy Under Secretary Hung Cao will lead the military branch, which includes the U.S. Marines, in an acting capacity, Parnell said.
Phelan’s departure comes as the U.S. Navy enforces a high-stakes blockade of Iranian ports near the Strait of Hormuz.
The key oil-shipping route has become a major choke point in the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.
The reported ouster also comes less than three weeks after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a former Fox News host, fired U.S. Army Chief of Staff Randy George. The timing of the highly experienced general’s ouster — just over a month after the U.S. launched the war in Iran — was considered highly unusual and has garnered criticism.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that Hegseth had dismissed George in a “terse phone call” after growing suspicious that the general had leaked a story to The New York Times about the Pentagon chief blocking the promotions of two Black and two female Army officers.
Hegseth has reportedly fired more than a dozen senior military officers.
Phelan had no military experience prior to his appointment by President Donald Trump in March 2025. He is a major art collector and Republican donor who has led private investment firms.
CNN reported in February that Phelan is named on a flight manifest showing he flew to New York from London in 2006 on the private plane of late sex offender Jeffery Epstein. The manifest was included in the Department of Justice’s release of millions of files on Epstein.
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