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Late Wednesday evening, the Secretary of the Navy was booted as part of an ongoing purge of the military by President Donald Trump and his administration.

According to one detail in the CNN report, Navy Secretary John Phelan didn't believe Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth when he said he was being fired.

Sources told CNN that all of it came to a head during a meeting about shipbuilding. Trump wants a new "Golden Fleet" or "Trump-class" ships and subs for the U.S. military. But the process of making such ships isn't a quick one.

"It will take five years for the two shipbuilders that build Virginia-class attack boats to deliver two submarines a year, according to the Navy’s latest estimates of the production schedule," the U.S. Naval Institute wrote in a 2023 report. "The two yards are currently on a pace to deliver about 1.2 submarines a year, Navy officials told USNI News this week."

Trump blames Phelan for the slow progress on building his fleet, so, he told Hegseth to "take care of it," CNN said.

"The official said Phelan, though, did not appear to believe Trump was aware of the message, and he soon began phoning other White House officials asking if they had heard he had been told to resign and whether they knew if the president was aware of it," the report explained.

Two White House staffers told Phelan that it was Trump personally who wanted him out. Phelan still didn't believe it, demanding to hear from the president himself, "or someone close to him" that he was canned. So, he came to the White House grounds looking for an official in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. He was asking around if they had any details about what was happening.

Phelan ultimately asked to meet with Trump and went straight to the West Wing, an official told CNN. There, Trump confirmed he was out.

Over the past several weeks, Trump has been shuffling out many officials in his administration whom he hired as loyalists. Phelan, for example, and his wife raised millions for Trump's 2024 campaign. But he has no experience in the Navy and has never served in the military at all.

He's also never worked in any capacity doing shipbuilding or even defense contracting. He was an investor and banking analyst.

After his name was announced in 2024 as the new secretary, experts began questioning whether it was the right time to have someone with no military experience running a key branch of the military.

“It will be difficult for anyone without experience in the Pentagon to take over the leadership of a service and do a good job,” Stacie Pettyjohn, a senior fellow and director of the defense program at the Center for a New American Security, told the*Associated Press*. “Services are sprawling organizations with distinct cultures, subcultures and bureaucratic interests, and where decisions are made through many formal processes. To change a service’s plans, one must understand this Byzantine landscape.”

On Thursday morning, Trump issued an order to the Navy via TruthSocialto shoot to kill anyone who violates the U.S. Navy blockade.

'He was trying to help us!': Listen to sailors yell profanities at Trump’s acting Navy secretary while he trashes fired captain - Alternet.org

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AN 4 26

President Donald Trump's Navy secretary revealed "we screwed up."

The USS Boise, a nuclear sub is being taken offline after spending about $800 million trying to overhaul it. The goal was to use what they have and rebuild, but the costs are mounting, and it isn't even halfway completed. The full maintenance cost could reach $1.9 billion. So, they've decided to scrap it and build a new one instead,Semafor reported on Friday.

Secretary John Phelan said that Trump is aiming for a new "Golden Fleet" of ships. His 2027 budget allocated less than $42 billion for 19 new battle force ships.

“We screwed up,” said Phelan, who said he was embracing “radical transparency” now that he's in charge. “We did. This doesn’t look good. It is what it is. Time to move on, and try to get going in the future and move forward.”

A Congressional Budget Office report cited that building a modern equivalent of the Boise, a Los Angeles-class submarine (SSN-764), would cost about $8.7 billion. The Navy calculates it closer to $7.1 billion. A 2024 report from The National Interest said, "Modern aircraft carriers, like the U.S. Navy’s Gerald R. Ford-class, cost around $13 billion each due to their immense complexity and advanced technology."

Trump's "golden fleet" demand would be "battleships described as highly advanced and heavily armed. The proposal requests $65.8 billion for shipbuilding, aiming to produce 18 battle force ships, 16 non-battle vessels, as well as an increase in public shipyard capacity," Business Insider reported.

“I think, by killing these programs, it’s sending a message that we’re not going to continue to send good money after bad investments, and that we’re going to try to make prudent economic decisions that are in the best interest of the fleet and the force,” Phelan explained.

He implied, however, that Trump's $65.8 billion budget request for shipbuilding won't be enough to meet the goal Trump has set for ship production.

“The ’27 budget [will have] a very big impact on this, and in trying to get after it, and really an exponential increase in our readiness,” Phelan said.

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AN 11 24

President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to nominate as the U.S. Secretary of the Navy a financier, art collector, and MAGA megadonor with no military experience is coming under fire.

“It is my great honor to announce John Phelan as our next United States Secretary of the Navy!” declared Trump in a statement, deviating from his usual habit of acknowledging their status as a nominee. “John will be a tremendous force for our Naval Servicemembers, and a steadfast leader in advancing my America First vision. He will put the business of the U.S. Navy above all else.”

Trump claimed, “John has excelled in every endeavor, from founding and leading Rugger Management LLC, to co-founding MSD Capital, LP, the Private Investment Firm for Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Technologies. His Record of Success speaks for itself – A true Champion of American Enterprise and Ingenuity!”

The Independent noted, “According to the U.S. Code,the secretary of the Navy shall be appointed ‘from among persons most highly qualified for the position by reason of background and experience.'”

Phelan “donated $834,600 to Trump’s joint fundraising committee, Trump 47,” back in April, according to The Hill. In August, at his $38 million Aspen estate, Phelan hosted a “$25,000 to $500,000 a couple” fundraiser that reportedly generated $12 million for Trump.

“The dinner, which Trump reportedly flew in for on a private jet once owned by disgraced financier and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, was held at the $38 million home of art collectors and investors John and Amy Phelan, with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), gambling mogul Steve Wynn, and billionaire Thomas Peterffy also in attendance,” The Daily Beast reported. “There were about 100 attendees at the event, which required couples to pony up $500,000 to serve on the host committee or at least $25,000 to attend at all.”

“If confirmed,” The Military Times reports, “Phelan would be the first permanent Navy secretary without military experience since 2009, when Donald Winter finished up his three-year term in the role. Unlike Winter, who previously had worked within the Pentagon and on Navy contracts at major defense firms, Phelan has little public connection to the sea service.”

Winter was nominated by Republican President George W. Bush.

“Of the 26 men to be confirmed as Navy secretary over the last 70 years, all but six have been veterans,” The Military Times also noted.

Critics are pointing to Phelan’s lack of relevant experience.

Paul Rieckhoff, the veterans’ activist and founder of Independent Veterans of America, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), and Righteous Media, blasted Trump’s pick.

He warned, “of course, Phelan has not served in the Navy. Or any other branch of military service. But he is a big Trump donor. The least qualified and most overtly political cabinet in American history continues to expand. And #OurEnemiesAreCelebrating.”

Veteran foreign policy journalist Laura Rozen, pointing to Phelan’s bio at the nonprofit Spirit of America and the London School of Economics and Political Science, writes, “Harvard MBA, art collector, manages fund of Michael Dell’s money. dont see anything in his bio that has any national security.”

Kevin Baron, the award-winning military journalist and former executive editor of Defense One, responding to a report on Phelan’s nomination, wrote, “Who?”

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