Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired Navy Secretary John Phelan on April 22, 2026, according to chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, in one of the most consequential Pentagon shakeups of President Trump’s second term. Retired Navy Captain Hung Cao, a 25-year combat veteran and Vietnamese-born refugee who served as an explosive ordnance disposal officer with deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia, has assumed the role of acting Navy Secretary as the United States maintains a high-stakes naval blockade of Iranian ports near the Strait of Hormuz.
The dismissal came after a White House meeting between Trump and Hegseth on April 22 focused on shipbuilding. During the discussion, Trump grew frustrated with slow progress and became convinced Phelan needed to be replaced with someone who would move faster. Hegseth then told Phelan he needed to resign or be fired.
Speaking in the Oval Office the following day, Trump said Phelan “had some conflicts with some other people, mostly as to building and buying new ships,” adding, “I’m very aggressive in the new shipbuilding.” On Truth Social, the president praised Phelan as “a long-time friend” and suggested he would welcome him back to the administration in the future.
The dismissal ends a turbulent tenure marked by clashes with Pentagon leadership, a stalled shipbuilding agenda, and questions about an ethics probe. Phelan becomes the first service secretary to depart during Trump’s second term, joining a string of senior military dismissals under Hegseth that includes the prior chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the Army Chief of Staff, Gen. Randy George, and a prior Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Lisa Franchetti.
Phelan’s relationship with Hegseth deteriorated sharply since late 2025, when disagreements over fleet readiness, shipbuilding reform, and the pace of industrial-base modernization spilled into open confrontation. The defense secretary was also irked by Phelan’s direct communication with Trump, which Hegseth viewed as an attempt to bypass the chain of command.
A financier who co-founded MSD Capital and chaired Rugger Management, Phelan had no prior military service and was seen by Hegseth’s inner circle as resistant to the warfighter-first culture the Pentagon chief has tried to impose. Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg, the co-founder of Cerberus Capital Management, pushed to take control of major responsibilities for shipbuilding and Navy acquisitions — a job that would typically fall within the Navy secretary’s purview. Phelan had also promoted the Trump-class battleship concept, which Hegseth saw as a distraction from his strategy of smaller, uncrewed ships, further deepening the rift between the two men.
The White House has grown increasingly impatient with delays across submarine and surface combatant programs, including Virginia-class attack submarines, the new FF(X) frigate, and the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine program. Cost overruns and workforce shortages at major yards have pushed several programs behind schedule.
Just one day before his firing, Phelan delivered a keynote address at the Sea-Air-Space 2026 exposition and told reporters, “We’re going to really need to improve our ability to build ships.” He also oversaw the release of the Navy’s fiscal 2027 budget request — a $377.5 billion proposal that includes $65.8 billion for shipbuilding and initial funding for the Trump-class battleship. Insiders say his reform efforts were too slow for a White House that wanted sweeping changes immediately.
The urgency has intensified amid the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports, which took effect on April 13 after the collapse of negotiations in Islamabad. The U.S. Fifth Fleet has surged assets to the region, and Central Command reports it has directed 31 vessels to turn around or return to port. The Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries roughly 20 percent of the world’s seaborne oil trade, has seen traffic plummet by more than 90 percent since the Iran war began in late February.
Fox News reported that part of the friction stemmed from Phelan’s refusal to ignore a federal judge’s ruling that punishing Sen. Mark Kelly for reminding military officers of their duty not to follow illegal orders would violate his First Amendment rights. A reported ethics investigation, the existence of which created a persistent cloud over his standing in congressional oversight hearings, also added pressure. While few details have been made public, one source cited the probe as a factor in the decision to push him out. Phelan’s defenders argue he was scapegoated for structural problems — shipyard workforce shortages, supplier consolidation, and decades of underinvestment in maritime infrastructure that cannot be unwound in 13 months. But inside the West Wing, patience had run out.
Cao was confirmed by the Senate in October after Trump nominated him as under secretary of the Navy in February 2025. Before joining the administration, he ran unsuccessful campaigns for Congress and the U.S. Senate in Virginia. The White House has not yet named a permanent successor.
Capitol Hill reaction was swift and divided. Senate Armed Services Committee Republicans largely backed the president’s move, citing the need for decisive leadership during the Hormuz standoff. Democrats warned that the revolving door of Pentagon leadership during an active conflict creates dangerous instability.
Whoever inherits the secretary’s office permanently will face an immediate trial by fire: sustaining pressure on Iran, accelerating the Golden Fleet shipbuilding initiative, restoring readiness, and navigating a Pentagon where the defense secretary does not tolerate dissent.
For now, the Navy enters a period of extraordinary turbulence at precisely the moment the nation is asking it to do more than it has in decades.
