WASHINGTON — Navy Secretary John Phelan was fired in another wartime Pentagon shakeup that led U.S. Sen. Susan Collins to say she was disappointed he was leaving the post.
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. A U.S. official and a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity said Wednesday that Phelan was dismissed in part because he was moving too slow to implement reforms to speed shipbuilding. This has been a longtime topic of discussion in Maine, where Bath Iron Works builds Navy destroyers.
One source cited bad relationships with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ousted the Army’s top general., Hegseth’s deputy, Steve Feinberg, as well as the Navy’s No. 2 civilian, Hung Cao, who the Pentagon said will now take over as acting Navy secretary. The source also cited an ethics investigation into Phelan’s office.
A billionaire who was close to President Donald Trump, Phelan is the first administration-picked service secretary to be fired since Trump came back into office last year.
His departure fits within a broader context of upheaval at all levels of leadership at the Pentagon under Hegseth’s watch, including the firing 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 Air Force vice chief of staff.
On April 2, Hegseth fired Army Chief of Staff Randy George without citing a reason. Two U.S. officials said the decision was tied to tensions between Hegseth and Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll.
Phelan’s first official visit to a public shipyard came last April at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, where he was joined by senators from Maine and neighboring New Hampshire. In a statement, Collins, a Republican, said the two had a good working relationship and credited Phelan with helping BIW secure another destroyer contract last year.
“He understands how important Maine’s highly skilled workforce is to our national defense, and I am very disappointed to see such a capable and committed leader depart,” she said.
The latest departure comes during a tense ceasefire with Iran, as the U.S. flows more naval assets into the Middle East. The military is relying on naval assets to carry out a blockade of Iran, which 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 U.S., which was once a global powerhouse. Trump’s $1.5 trillion defense budget request for fiscal year 2027 includes over $65 billion to procure 18 warships and 16 support ships made by two companies including General Dynamics, BIW’s parent company.
Both Collins and Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, have been pressuring the Navy for long-term contracts for several ships to keep pace with China and provide a steady flow of work to shipbuilders in Bath, including when a top Navy official visited the yard earlier this month.
Story by Phil Stewart. Writers Michael Shepherd of the BDN and Steve Holland and Jasper Ward of Reuters contributed to this report.
