Navy secretary’s removal points to Trump’s anxiety over shipbuilding

The abrupt firing of Navy Secretary John Phelan, the latest head to roll in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s turbulent Pentagon, points to President Trump’s anxiety over his ambitious and divisive vision for U.S. shipbuilding. 

Phelan, a billionaire and Trump fundraiser, was ousted on Wednesday, 13 months into the role, becoming the first service secretary to be removed in Trump’s second term. More than 30 senior military officers have been ousted under Hegseth.  

The Navy secretary’s removal, which caught many officials and lawmakers by surprise, comes as the president has aggressively pushed to supercharge U.S. shipbuilding, the commander in chief’s growing priority in efforts to counter China’s industrial and naval might.

Retired Navy Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery said Thursday that he was not “disappointed” with Phelan’s ouster, but he said his grumbles with the Navy secretary were over the Trump-class battleship. 

“He and the president cooked up an extremely bad idea, which is a very large target known as a battleship. That’s going to cost $24 to $26 billion minimum. For the first one, which is the cost of like, 12 destroyers,” Montgomery, a senior director for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), told reporters Thursday morning. 

In late December, Trump announced a new class of battleships as part of the U.S. Navy’s “Golden Fleet,” envisioned as an upgrade to the Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.

Trump aimed for the new class of battleships to be built by 2028, a timeline experts argued would be unlikely, saying the new vessels would take billions of dollars and far more time to complete. 

The Navy asked for a $377 billion budget for next year, including more than $65.8 billion for shipbuilding, to procure 18 warships, including destroyers and submarines.  

CNN reported Wednesday night that Phelan was asked to resign following a meeting between Hegseth and Trump over shipbuilding in which Trump became convinced Phelan needed to go, with Hegseth pledging to find someone who could move more quickly. 

A former U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The........

© The Hill