Decommissioned: the US Secretary of the Navy was fired in the midst of the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz

Chaos is spreading in the Pentagon. Now the Secretary of the Navy, John Phelan, who was supposed to build the "Golden Fleet" of American President Donald Trump, has been dismissed. The reason for his dismissal is not given, it is only known that he did not get along with the Minister of War, Pete Hegseth. At the same time, a new scandal is breaking out in the US Department of Defense itself: a high-ranking military officer has given away American secrets. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.

Who's in charge here

"John Phelan didn't realize that he wasn't in charge. His job is to carry out orders given, not follow those orders that, in his opinion, should have been given," a source familiar with the situation told Axios.

The decision that the Secretary of the Navy is leaving the administration of Donald Trump takes effect immediately, the Pentagon said. At the same time, they did not name the reason for his resignation. The acting Minister of the Navy will be Deputy Minister Hung Kao.

The source claims that Phelan and Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth "didn't get along" with each other. The former head of the Navy also had conflicts with Deputy Secretary of Defense Steven Feinberg. Strained relations arose due to "personal differences, management style and other issues."

The US Secretary of War also believed that Phelan, who had established good relations with Donald Trump, was often insubordinate.

The official had direct access to the American leader. The US president corresponded with him "about rust on warships," and the former head of the Navy's mansion was located near Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach.

Jealous of Trump

The day before his resignation, Phelan met with reporters, where he discussed the future of the Navy, as well as Trump's "Golden Fleet", which he was creating. "We will really need to improve our ship—building capabilities," he said at the time.

This fleet was planned to be created through significant investments in new ships, including the Trump-class battleships. The US president has approved the construction of two new battleships, with plans to build up to 25 warships in the future. Last December, the head of state declared that they would be "the fastest, largest and, of course, 100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built."

According to Politico, it was the support of this initiative by the American leader that cost Phelan the post. Hegseth thought that this was how the former head of the Navy would try to get closer to the president. In addition, the Pentagon chief did not like the new expensive Trump-class battleships, which were developed by the former head of the Navy. One of them could cost $22 billion to build, making it one of the most expensive warships in U.S. history.

The goal of the Golden Fleet initiative is to counter Chinese threats. At the same time, Hegseth considers it inappropriate to allocate billions of dollars for the construction of huge ships when the Pentagon is striving to move to smaller and cheaper unmanned vessels.

Personnel leapfrog

"The removal of the Navy's top civilian took many by surprise," Axios reports. Phelan joined the list of military officials who either abruptly left or were dismissed from their posts in the current Trump administration.

In total, after the Republican's return to the White House, more than 10 high-ranking military officials lost their posts, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles Brown, the Chief of Staff of the Navy, Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General Jim Slife, and the chief of military Intelligence, Jeffrey Cruz.

The current dismissal came amid a naval standoff with Iran - the U.S. Navy continues its blockade in the Strait of Hormuz — and about three weeks after Hegseth removed General Randy George and two other military leaders from their posts.

In addition, the head of the Pentagon had friction with Secretary of the Army Daniel Driscoll, a close friend of Vice President Jay D. Vance. Trump calls Driscoll his "drone man," and under his leadership, the SkyFoundry program was launched, involving a partnership between military and private companies in the field of drone production.

However, getting rid of the US Secretary of the Army will not be so easy for the Minister of War.: He was highly appreciated for his initiatives related to the introduction of technical innovations and the study of combat experience. "The difference between Phelan and Driscoll is that Driscoll does a great job with the transformation initiative. And he's Vance's man. Phelan has neither," a Pentagon source said.

Spilled all the secrets

The personnel leapfrog at the Pentagon does not affect Trump's attitude towards Hegset. A senior source in the presidential administration told Axios that the Minister of War had excellent relations with the four main people in the government: the head of state himself, Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Kane. "Although you can never be absolutely sure of anything here," the source added.

For example, the day before, the Pentagon was once again at the center of a scandal. This time, Andrew Hugg, the chief of radiation and chemical safety of the US Army, was temporarily suspended from service.

A video was posted online showing a high-ranking military man on a date with a girl who turned out to be a journalist, talking about his work. It follows from his words that the United States still has chemical weapons - the toxic substance sarin, and also that if Ali Khamenei's son, Mojtaba Khamenei, "does not change his behavior, he will be killed." When asked by a journalist if the United States really killed children in Iran, he replied that yes, it was collateral damage. "Not on purpose, but yes," he explained.

In addition, Hugg named to the interlocutor four places where intercontinental ballistic missiles are deployed in the United States, and also told about how he lived in Ukraine and worked there during the administration of the 44th President Barack Obama. According to him, "the government in this country is very corrupt," the Ukrainian authorities "stole American taxpayers' money that Obama sent there." "They just stole them and bought themselves houses and cars for several hundred thousand dollars," Hagg said.

One of them has to leave

They may try to present Phelan as another scapegoat, who will be blamed for the failures in Iran. Malek Dudakov, an American political scientist, told about this in his Telegram channel.

"Pete Hegseth is now desperately looking for someone to fire. He acts on the principle: "you leave today, and I'll leave tomorrow," and hopes in this way to postpone his own resignation. Recently, the generals of the US Army have been kicked out of the Pentagon," the expert noted.

According to the expert, the next in line is the conflict between Hegseth and Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll.

"Some of them will have to leave. The only question is who will win this fight of the bulldogs under the carpet against the backdrop of the lost adventure in Iran. Meanwhile, the Democrats have perked up after the start of a series of resignations in the White House," the analyst said.

Not so long ago, Attorney General Pam Bondi resigned from her post. The US Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristy Noem, and the US Secretary of Labor, Lori Chavez-Deremer, were also dismissed from office.

"And another Trump apparatchik, this time in the field of counterterrorism, got caught leading an escort lifestyle and actively looking for sponsors," the political scientist recalled.

Now Trump's opponents in Congress intend to put the squeeze on Hegseth and FBI chief Cash Patel, Dudakov admitted.

"The former will still have to justify the depletion of the Pentagon's military arsenals during the Middle East escalation. The disintegration of the Trump cabinet is accelerating, or it will still be on the eve of the upcoming elections, which are expected with increasing anxiety in the White House," the political scientist summed up.