FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of the Navy John Phelan speaks, after President Donald Trump announced the Navy's "Golden Fleet", at Mar-a-lago in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., December 22, 2025. REUTERS/Jessica Koscielniak/File Photo
The top civilian appointed by Trump to lead the Navy was suddenly ousted on Wednesday, The New York Times reported.
Navy spokesman Sean Parnell announced the move on X without an explanation, saying Navy Secretary John Phelan resigned "effective immediately" and that Undersecretary Hung Cao would take over in the interim.
"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," Parnell wrote. "We wish him well in his future endeavors."
Phelan's swift and unexplained departure comes as Trump wages a war with Iran and tries to leverage a naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz in his favor.
In the comments of Parnell's post, users wondered if Phelan's decision had to do with his name being listed on a 2006 flight manifest connected to Jeffery Epstein.