{"id":12209,"date":"2026-04-24T05:17:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T05:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/04\/24\/trumps-navy-secretary-ousted-over-dispute-about-shipbuilding-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T05:17:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T05:17:11","slug":"trumps-navy-secretary-ousted-over-dispute-about-shipbuilding-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/04\/24\/trumps-navy-secretary-ousted-over-dispute-about-shipbuilding-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s navy secretary ousted over dispute about shipbuilding – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Trump administration<\/a> fired its top naval official on Wednesday in a move unrelated to the ongoing naval blockade of Iran\u2019s strait of Hormuz, but instead over over an internal dispute about shipbuilding.<\/p>\n

The Pentagon confirmed that John Phelan, who ran a private investment fund in Florida and was a Donald Trump donor, had been ousted as the navy secretary. His departure \u2013 the first of any service secretary in the Trump administration<\/a> \u2013 came in the same week that Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized two container ships in the strait of Hormuz, claiming maritime violations and transferring them to Iranian shores.<\/p>\n

But the firing was seemingly unrelated to the conduct of the war. People familiar with the situation told the Guardian the causes included poor relationships with the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth; the powerful deputy secretary of defense, Steve Feinberg; and Phelan\u2019s own deputy, Hung Cao, stretching back many months.<\/p>\n

<\/gu-island><\/figure>\n

The people familiar with the situation said there was also a Pentagon view that he was moving too slowly on shipbuilding reforms Trump personally wanted and there was also reportedly an ongoing ethics investigation into the navy secretary\u2019s office. Feinberg, they said, had sought to consolidate all navy shipbuilding and major acquisition responsibilities \u2013 with one source saying he appears to have prevailed.<\/p>\n

According to the New York Times<\/a>, Feinberg had also moved to strip Phelan of authority over major shipbuilding programs, one congressional official told the publication.<\/p>\n

Though the timing of Phelan\u2019s removal is unusual, the endgame had been on the horizon since October, when Hegseth fired<\/a> Phelan\u2019s chief of staff, Jon Harrison, shortly before Cao\u2019s confirmation. That move functionally removed the powerful aide who helped Phelan restructure navy offices in a way that would sideline Cao and other under secretaries.<\/p>\n

Cao, a former navy officer and Republican Senate candidate who ran in Virginia against Tim Kaine in 2024, more closely aligned with Hegseth\u2019s approach to cultural issues within the military. He was named acting navy secretary.<\/p>\n

Phelan\u2019s dismissal is the latest in a cascade of departures that has now included the departure of at least five high-ranking cabinet and military officials since the start of the war with Iran. Three cabinet secretaries have departed in four weeks: Kristi Noem from homeland security, Pam Bondi as attorney general and on Monday Lori Chavez-DeRemer, from the labor department. Republican senators are also privately warning that further upheaval is coming.<\/p>\n

Politico reported<\/a> that GOP lawmakers believe the commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, and the FBI director, Kash Patel, are all at risk of losing their positions. One Republican senator described Trump\u2019s mindset to the outlet as: \u201cHe\u2019s in a bad mood. He\u2019s preparing to really let a lot of them go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Separately, Iran\u2019s foreign minister has called the US blockade of Iranian ports \u201can act of war\u201d and a ceasefire violation. The White House dismissed Iran\u2019s seizure of two commercial vessels as \u201cpiracy\u201d, insisting the naval blockade remains \u201cincredibly effective\u201d. The strait of Hormuz, just 34km wide at its narrowest, handles roughly 20% of global seaborne oil trade.<\/p>\n

Trump had praised Phelan at the time of his appointment, calling him \u201cone of the most successful businessmen in the country\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Trump administration fired its top naval official on Wednesday in a move unrelated to the ongoing naval blockade of Iran\u2019s strait of Hormuz, but instead over over an internal dispute about shipbuilding. The Pentagon confirmed that John Phelan, who ran a private investment fund in Florida and was a Donald Trump donor, had been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}