STORY: Navy Secretary John Phelan has been fired, a U.S. official and a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday (April 22), in another wartime shakeup at the Pentagon coming just weeks after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ousted the Army's top general.

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.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Phelan was dismissed in part because he was moving too slow to implement reforms to speed shipbuilding and because he had fallen out with key Pentagon leadership.

One source cited bad relationships with Hegseth, 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 seen as having close ties 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.

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US Navy Secretary Phelan fired, sources say

VIDEO SHOWS: FILE OF NAVY SECRETARY, JOHN PHELAN, STATEMENT FROM PENTAGON OFFICIAL

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE STORY

SHOWS: INTERNET (APRIL 22, 2026) (SOCIAL MEDIA WEBSITE - Access all) (MUTE)

1. SCREENSHOT OF POST ON X BY CHIEF PENTAGON SPOKESMAN, SEAN PARNELL, READING (English):

"STATEMENT: Secretary of the Navy John C. Phelan is departing the administration, effective immediately. 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. We wish him well in his future endeavors. Undersecretary Hung Cao will become Acting Secretary of the Navy."

PALM BEACH, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES (FILE - DECEMBER 22, 2025) (DVIDS - Access all)

2. NAVY SECRETARY, JOHN PHELAN, WALKING UP TO LECTERN

3. PHELAN TALKING (NOT A SOUNDBITE)

PALM BEACH, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES (FILE - DECEMBER 22, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all) (MUTE)

4. STILL PHOTO OF U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP, TALKING AS DEFENSE CHIEF, PETE HEGSETH, AND SECRETARY OF THE NAVY, JOHN PHELAN, LISTEN

5. PHELAN, STANDING NEXT TO A RENDERING OF THE 'TRUMP CLASS' USS DEFIANT

WASHINGTON, D.C. (FILE - DECEMBER 7, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all) (MUTE)

6. STILL PHOTO OF UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF THE NAVY, JOHN PHELAN AND AMY PHELAN, POSING ON THE RED CARPET FOR THE 2025 KENNEDY CENTER HONORS