President-elect Donald Trump has nominated billionaire investment fund manager and Republican megadonor John Phelan as the 79th Secretary of the Navy.

It is my great honor to announce John Phelan as our next United States Secretary of the Navy! 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.

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 Techologies. His Record of Success speaks for itself — A true Champion of American Enterprise and Ingenuity!

John's intelligence and leadership are unmatched. John holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School, and is a truly brilliant guy! His incredible knowledge and experience will elevate the lives of the brave Americans who serve our Nation, John will deliver real results for our Navy and our Country. I look forward to working with him.

Congratulations, John — Together, we will MAKE AMERICA STRONG AGAIN!

The challenges facing Phelan are daunting. The Navy is THE vital service in any conflict with China but from an outsider's perspective, that service seems not only broken but content in being unable to carry out its mission.

Navy shipbuilding is in the sewer. The organization that manages the shipbuilding life cycle for the Navy, NAVSEA, has 86,000 people. The ships it designs have gone from being best-in-class to laughingstock. The highly touted "Littoral Combat Ship"  has not been deployed to the theater for which it was intended, the Red Sea, because its missile magazines carry too few missiles to defend itself against the Houthis. A plan to buy an off-the-shelf cruiser design to replace the Aegis cruisers now being retired has become a joke after the "good idea fairy" got a hold on the project. The USS Connecticut, a Seawolf-class fast attack submarine, hit an "uncharted" undersea mountain in 2021. It is still in the shipyard. Allegedly, it will return to duty in September 2025, four years after the accident.

REPORT: "@NAVSEA, The Ship Building & Repair Arm Of The @USNavy, Employs 83,000 People & Hasn’t Built A Single Warship On Time Or On Budget This Century!"- @johnkonrad,Of @gCaptain Maritime News Points Out Massive Govt Inefficiency & Cost Overruns In The DOD's Shipbuilding... pic.twitter.com/PZJlbj0gk8

— John Basham (@JohnBasham) November 8, 2024

We are decommissioning more ships than we are launching while China is conducting a peacetime naval expansion, the likes of which has never before been seen.-

2/ pic.twitter.com/IeXtoRusH1

— Claude Berube (@cgberube) November 26, 2024

The AP is making a big deal out of Phelan's "lack of military experience," but given the state of the Navy, I believe that lack of experience in the institution is a feature, not a bug, of Phelan's nomination. 

“It will be difficult for anyone without experience in the Pentagon to take over the leadership of a service and do a good job,” said Stacie Pettyjohn, a senior fellow and director of the defense program at the Center for a New American Security. “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.”

The Secretary's job is not Navy, it is administrative. His job is to ensure the admirals have a Navy that can carry out their mission.

While Joy Ried @MSNBC is fuming tonight about Trumps pic for Secretary of the Navy John Phelan, Joyless is FREAKIN OUT he was never a Naval Officer
It's an ADMIN job
🫡🫡 pic.twitter.com/hmhiouWTFG

— Greta_USA (@DEI_Greta) November 28, 2024

Currently, the Navy has more admirals than ships.

The U.S. Navy has more Admirals than ships, yet it can’t keep the Red Sea open or deliver new ships on time.

So, how do Navy Admirals spend their time? World travel to 4-star hotels!

Here's their Nov conference list

P.S. The list for Army & Air Force Generals is even longer. pic.twitter.com/AsKLUq3C1E

— John Ʌ Konrad V (@johnkonrad) November 8, 2024

Phelan's challenges will be gaining control of the bureaucracy within the Navy Secretariat and getting rid of the bullsh** artists who are all about supporting the status quo and finding a new Chief of Naval Operations who will support his vision of where the service needs to go.

This kind of crap needs to be dealt with harshly and summarily.

The current Secretary of Defense promotes this in the navy. Please spare me your lectures on qualifications. We are laughing at all of you. pic.twitter.com/t6MlBveWdV

— Insurrection Barbie (@DefiyantlyFree) November 24, 2024

Lionizing sexual perversion has to cease; see Rum, Buggery, and the Lash Makes a Comeback as the US Navy Fights Recruiting Woes; Well, Better Hold the Rum and Navy Recruitment: From Heroes to 'Harpy' the Drag-Queen.

A long-time acquaintance from our milblogging days of the early 2000s, CDR Salamander, offers this assessment.

President Trump will build his team as he thinks will best serve his agenda. The statement above outlines Phelan’s background. He’s a smart guy who wouldn’t be where he was if he didn’t have the ability to look at people and data and understand strengths and weaknesses.

My preferences for SECNAV—the CV of one, not named people—has been shared for a couple of decades here, on Midrats, and in person to anyone who is foolish enough to ask me. It has remained consistent and applies to both political parties: I would prefer someone with a political background, preferably from the House of Representatives. Someone who can walk into a room and quickly decide who has an itchy rib that needs to be scratched to do something that will advance sea power. Who is worth their time, who is not. Who can be persuaded, who needs to be avoided. Politics is a skill like any other. It can be learned, but is best a proven skillset. Second to that is someone who knows where the bodies are buried, how the windmill works, and can avoid the R.O.U.S. around The Pentagon.

Phelan has a different skillset coming into the job, and maybe that is what is needed to shake things up. He will be taking over from SECNAV Del Toro, who has held the job throughout the Biden Administration. That should provide him a solid turnover.

The next palace game is to look at is who is picked as his Under and the ASNs. Let’s hope the Senate will move fast on approving appointments.

I agree. Phelan's personal connection to Trump gives him clout that will make it impossible to ignore him. He succeeded in a very tough business, that implies he is a good judge of people and is capable of focus.

My favorite quote from researching our new Secretary of the Navy so far?

“If you do dumbass things, you will be labeled a dumbass” John Phelan, 2022 pic.twitter.com/HyyLJimpWY

— John Ʌ Konrad V (@johnkonrad) November 27, 2024

It's a good thing that he is not a creature of the Navy hierarchy and is not beholden to the military-industrial complex for his next gig. I can't be convinced that either of those groups cares much about winning wars and protecting America.