US Navy Secretary John Phelan talks about the US Navy’s new Golden Fleet initiative while unveiling a new class of warships at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida on December 22, 2025.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | getty images
Navy Secretary John Fallon is leaving the Trump administration “effective immediately,” a Defense Department spokesman said Wednesday.
“On behalf of the Secretary of War and the Deputy Secretary of War, we are grateful to Secretary Phelan for his service to the Department and the United States Navy,” spokesman Sean Parnell said on Twitter. “We wish him well in his future endeavors.”
Hung KaoThe undersecretary of the Navy will lead the military branch in an acting capacity, Parnell said.
Parnell gave no explanation for Phelan’s sudden departure, which comes as the U.S. Navy enforces a high-risk blockade of Iranian ports near the Strait of Hormuz.
The key oil-shipping route has become a major choke point in the US-Israeli war against Iran.
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