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BumRushDaShow

(170,963 posts) Wed Apr 22, 2026, 06:00 PM Wednesday

Pentagon says Navy Secretary John Phelan is leaving, in latest departure of a top defense leader

Source: AP

Updated 5:53 PM EDT, April 22, 2026

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon announced Wednesday that the Navy’s top civilian official, Secretary of the Navy John Phelan, is leaving his job. In a statement posted to social media, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Phelan was “departing the administration, effective immediately.” Navy Undersecretary Hung Cao will become acting secretary of the Navy, Parnell said.

The sudden departure comes just a day after Phelan addressed a large crowd of sailors and industry professionals at the Navy’s annual conference in Washington, D.C., and spoke with reporters about his agenda.

Phelan’s departure also comes just weeks after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired the Army’s top officer, Gen. Randy George, as well as two other top generals in the Army.

Phelan had not served in the military or had a civilian leadership role in the service before President Donald Trump nominated him for secretary in late 2024.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/pentagon-navy-secretary-phelan-cao-3a871b87f1a31c1c7168f69e8fe4f7b5

Just breaking. Patronage job. The guy was a big donor.

6 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Pentagon says Navy Secretary John Phelan is leaving, in latest departure of a top defense leader (Original Post) BumRushDaShow Wednesday OP

He has no military experience at all. Irish_Dem Wednesday #1

Or got his grift and is taking his big pile of chips with him out the door to cash out somewhere else. BumRushDaShow Wednesday #2

Exactly. He is tired of top navy brass telling him NO. Irish_Dem Wednesday #3

Could the shitty food have something to do with it? Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin Wednesday #4

He found out the aircraft carrier flight decks are not tiled with mirrors. JustABozoOnThisBus Thursday #5

Trump's Dreams for a Battleship Led to His Navy Secretary's Ouster (NYT Gift Article) LetMyPeopleVote 13 hrs ago #6

Irish_Dem

(81,931 posts)

1. He has no military experience at all.

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Original post)

Wed Apr 22, 2026, 06:12 PM

Wednesday

Background in finance. Maybe even he can see the math is not mathing.

BumRushDaShow

(170,963 posts)

2. Or got his grift and is taking his big pile of chips with him out the door to cash out somewhere else.

Reply to Irish_Dem (Reply #1)

Wed Apr 22, 2026, 06:17 PM

Wednesday

Irish_Dem

(81,931 posts)

3. Exactly. He is tired of top navy brass telling him NO.

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Reply #2)

Wed Apr 22, 2026, 06:18 PM

Wednesday

And arguing with him.

Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin

(136,531 posts)

4. Could the shitty food have something to do with it?

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Original post)

Wed Apr 22, 2026, 06:55 PM

Wednesday

JustABozoOnThisBus

(24,702 posts)

5. He found out the aircraft carrier flight decks are not tiled with mirrors.

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Original post)

Thu Apr 23, 2026, 08:50 AM

Thursday

Where's the fun in that?

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-orbit-epstein-files-john-phelan-accountability

LetMyPeopleVote

(180,856 posts)

6. Trump's Dreams for a Battleship Led to His Navy Secretary's Ouster (NYT Gift Article)

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Original post)

Fri Apr 24, 2026, 12:31 PM

13 hrs ago

The Navy secretary, John Phelan, was supposed to deliver the first of the president’s ships by 2028. The timeline was nearly impossible.

Link to tweet

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/23/us/politics/trump-navy-secretary.html?unlocked_article_code=1.dFA.-O4X.f4VsdDqaN8QD&smid=url-share

President Trump wanted one thing, more than anything else, from his secretary of the Navy, John Phelan: a new class of battleships.

“They’ll be the fastest, the biggest and by far — 100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built,” Mr. Trump boasted at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate and resort in Florida a few days before Christmas. Mr. Phelan, a billionaire investor who has a home near the club, stood next to the president as he made the announcement.

Mr. Phelan’s job was to deliver the first of Mr. Trump’s battleships by 2028.

On Wednesday, Mr. Trump fired Mr. Phelan, who had struggled to come up with a plan to deliver the ships on the nearly impossible timeline that Mr. Trump has demanded, senior defense and administration officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters.....

Presidents rarely pay close attention to military procurement, but Mr. Trump has spoken repeatedly about his plans for a new “Trump-class” battleship. In a February speech to soldiers at Fort Bragg, N.C., Mr. Trump insisted that he had helped design the new class of ships that bear his name......

In Mr. Trump’s imagination the new warship would be massive, weighing as much as 40,000 tons, and would be packed with new high-tech weapons, like lasers, hypersonic missiles and electric rail guns, most of which are still in development and years from being deployed.

In recent weeks, it had become clear to Mr. Phelan that the Navy and the U.S. shipbuilding industry did not have the ability to deliver on Mr. Trump’s vision. Mr. Phelan recently suggested to Mr. Trump that the Navy might have to rely on European shipyards to deliver the battleships on the ambitious timeline Mr. Trump was demanding, senior military and administration officials said.

Mr. Trump rejected the suggestion.

Battleships are not practical or effective in today's world. trump wanted magical battleships that bore his name and fired Phelan for promising these magical battleships and not delivering.

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