WASHINGTON – Navy Secretary John Phelan was fired after conflicts with senior Pentagon leadership over shipbuilding, U.S. President Donald Trump said on April 23.
Mr Phelan’s dismissal, first reported by Reuters, was the latest wartime shake-up at the Pentagon.
“He’s a hard charger, and he had some conflicts with some other people, mostly as to building and buying new ships,” Mr Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
“Got to get along, especially in the military, got to get along, you know. And some people liked him, some people didn’t, and that’s usually the truth about everything.”
Sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, previously told Reuters that 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.
The latest departure comes during a tense ceasefire with Iran, as the US flows more naval assets into the Middle East.
The Pentagon has not provided a reason for Mr Phelan’s departure, nor did it say whether it was Mr Phelan’s decision to go.
A billionaire seen as having close ties to Mr Trump, Mr Phelan is the first administration-picked service secretary to be fired since Mr Trump came back into office in 2025. REUTERS