The two had such a close relationship that, during his confirmation hearing, Phelan said the president would text him in the middle of the night to discuss shipbuilding.

On Thursday, Trump praised Phelan as a “long time friend and very successful businessman, who did an outstanding job serving as my Secretary Of The Navy for the last year,” and said he would be open to having him back in the administration in the future.

“John helped my Administration rebuild Sleepy Joe Biden’s rapidly depleted, and almost abandoned, Navy. Now, because of John, and all of the Great Men and Women lovingly and tirelessly involved, we have the strongest Navy in the World — BY FAR!” Trump said via Truth Social. “John Phelan is smart, tough, and respected by all, and although he has decided to move on from his position as Secretary Of The Navy, I very much appreciate the job that he has done, and would certainly like to have him back within the Trump Administration sometime in the future.”

It would appear that Phelan’s relationship with Trump was a part of the friction between the Navy secretary and Hegseth. There were times when Phelan would take matters directly to Trump due to their relationship, according to the Washington Post, which also reported that the administration had grown increasingly frustrated at the lack of progress from his office regarding its effort to turn around the American shipbuilding industry.

Hegseth ousted Phelan’s first chief of staff, Jon Harrison, in October 2025, just after Cao was confirmed by the Senate.

Phelan even reportedly went to the White House on Wednesday to confirm he was being removed, Politico reported.

Phelan’s removal was announced a day after the Navy unveiled its $377 billion budget request for next year that seeks more than $65 billion for shipbuilding. The budget would procure 18 new warships, including new submarines, destroyers, an amphibious assault ship, and funds for the “Trump class” of battleship.

“Secretary Phelan’s abrupt dismissal is troubling,” Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement Wednesday night. “In the midst of President Trump’s war of choice in Iran, at a moment when our naval forces are stretched thin across multiple theaters, this kind of disruption at the top sends the wrong signal to our sailors and Marines, to our allies, and to our adversaries.”

Phelan, a political appointee, is the latest administration official to depart. Since the beginning of March, Kristi Noem, Pam Bondi, and Lori Chavez-DeRemer have all been forced out of their positions atop the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, and Labor, respectively.

Within the War Department, Hegseth has also clashed with several officials, some of whom he has forced out.

Phelan is the first service secretary nominated by Trump to leave the administration, though Hegseth’s fraught relationship with Army Secretary Dan Driscoll has been highly publicized. Earlier this month, Hegseth pushed Gen. Randy George, the Army chief of staff and a Driscoll ally, to retire.

Driscoll, in a congressional hearing since then, said, “I, too, love Gen. George,” though he also shared his support for George’s successor, Gen. Christopher LaNeve, the vice chief of staff of the Army. Prior to George’s removal, Driscoll and Hegseth butted heads over promotions of army leaders, and one person of dispute was Col. Dave Butler, the now-retired chief of Army public affairs.

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Hegseth has removed several senior military leaders without explanation other than that they did not meet his vision for his transformation of the department.

He has removed the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Charles Q Brown; the chief of naval operations, Adm. Lisa Franchetti; Adm. Linda Fagan, the Coast Guard commandant; Gen. James Slife, the vice chief of staff of the Air Force; and Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, who was the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, among several others.