United States Secretary of the Navy

The **United States** **secretary of the Navy** (**SECNAV**) is a statutory officer and the head of the Department of the Navy, a military department within the United States Department of Defense. On March 25, 2025, John Phelan was confirmed as secretary of the Navy.

### Continental Congress

|Position|Portrait|Name|Term of office|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Chairman of the Marine Committee||John Adams|13 October 1775 – 1779|
|Member of the Marine Committee||John Langdon|13 October 1775–?|
|Member of the Marine Committee||Silas Deane|13 October 1775–?|
|Member of the Marine Committee||Joseph Hewes|1775|
|Continental Navy Board (under Marine Committee)|||6 November 1776 – 28 October 1779|
|Chairman of the Continental Board of Admiralty||Francis Lewis|December 1779 – 1780|
|Secretary of Marine||Alexander McDougall|7 February 1781 – 29 August 1781|
|Agent of Marine (devolved onto Superintendent of Finance)||Robert Morris|29 August 1781 – 1784|

_(Post of Secretary of Marine created but remained vacant)_

### Executive Department, 1798–1949

<small></small>

|No.|class=unsortable|Portrait|Name|State|Start|End|colspan=2|President(s)||||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan=2|1|rowspan=2||rowspan=2||rowspan=2|Maryland|rowspan=2||rowspan=2||style="background: ;"||(1797–1801)||
|rowspan=2 style="background: ;"||rowspan=2|(1801–1809)|||||||||||||
|2|||Maryland|||||||||||||
|3|||South Carolina|||rowspan=3 style="background: ;"||rowspan=3|(1809–1817)|||||||
|4|||Pennsylvania|||||||||||||
|rowspan=2|5|rowspan=2||rowspan=2||rowspan=2|Massachusetts|rowspan=2||rowspan=2||||||
|rowspan=3 style="background: ;"||rowspan=3|(1817–1825)|||||||||||||
|6|||New York|||||||||||||
|rowspan=2|7|rowspan=2||rowspan=2||rowspan=2|New Jersey|rowspan=2||rowspan=2||||||
|style="background: ;"||(1825–1829)||||||||||||||
|8|||North Carolina|||rowspan=3 style="background: ;"||rowspan=3|(1829–1837)|||||||
|9|||New Hampshire|||||||||||||
|rowspan=2|10|rowspan=2||rowspan=2||rowspan=2|New Jersey|rowspan=2||rowspan=2||||||
|rowspan=2 style="background: ;"||rowspan=2|(1837–1841)|||||||||||||
|11|||New York|||||||||||||
|rowspan=2|12|rowspan=2||rowspan=2||rowspan=2|North Carolina|rowspan=2||rowspan=2||style="background: ;"||(1841)||
|rowspan=5 style="background: ;"||rowspan=5|(1841–1845)|||||||||||||
|13|||Virginia|||||||||||||
|14|||Massachusetts|||||||||||||
|15|||Virginia|||||||||||||
|16|||Virginia|||||||||||||
|17|||Massachusetts|||rowspan=2 style="background: ;"||rowspan=2|(1845–1849)|||||||
|18|||Virginia|||||||||||||
|19|||Virginia|||style="background: ;"||(1849–1850)||||||||
|20|||North Carolina|||rowspan=2 style="background: ;"||rowspan=2|(1850–1853)|||||||
|21|||Maryland|||||||||||||
|22|||North Carolina|||style="background: ;"||(1853–1857)||||||||
|23|||Connecticut|||style="background: ;"||(1857–1861)||||||||
|rowspan=2|24|rowspan=2||rowspan=2||rowspan=2|Connecticut|rowspan=2||rowspan=2||style="background: ;"||(1861–1865)||
|style="background: ;"||(1865–1869)||||||||||||||
|25|||Pennsylvania|||rowspan=2 style="background: ;"||rowspan=2|(1869–1877)|||||||
|26|||New Jersey|||||||||||||
|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||rowspan=3 style="background: ;"||rowspan=3|(1877–1881)|
|27|||Indiana|||||||||||||
|28|||West Virginia|||||||||||||
|rowspan=2|29|rowspan=2||rowspan=2||rowspan=2|Louisiana|rowspan=2||rowspan=2||style="background: ;"||(1881)||
|rowspan=2 style="background: ;"||rowspan=2|(1881–1885)|||||||||||||
|30|||New Hampshire|||||||||||||
|31|||New York|||style="background: ;"||(1885–1889)||||||||
|32|||New York|||style="background: ;"||(1889–1893)||||||||
|33|||Alabama|||style="background: ;"||(1893–1897)||||||||
|rowspan=2|34|rowspan=2||rowspan=2||rowspan=2|Massachusetts|rowspan=2||rowspan=2||style="background: ;"||(1897–1901)||
|rowspan=6 style="background: ;"||rowspan=6|(1901–1909)|||||||||||||
|35|||Massachusetts|||||||||||||
|36|||Illinois|||||||||||||
|37|||Maryland|||||||||||||
|38|||California|||||||||||||
|39|||Michigan|||||||||||||
|40|||Massachusetts|||style="background: ;"||(1909–1913)||||||||
|41|||North Carolina|||style="background: ;"||(1913–1921)||||||||
|rowspan=2|42|rowspan=2||rowspan=2||rowspan=2|Michigan|rowspan=2||rowspan=2||style="background: ;"||(1921–1923)||
|rowspan=3 style="background: ;"||rowspan=3|(1923–1929)|||||||||||||
|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||||||
|43|||California|||||||||||||
|44|||Massachusetts|||style="background: ;"||(1929–1933)||||||||
|45|||Virginia|||rowspan=7 style="background: ;"||rowspan=7|(1933–1945)|||||||
|rowspan=2|46|rowspan=2||rowspan=2||rowspan=2|New Jersey|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||||||
|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||||||
|47|||Illinois|||||||||||||
|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||||||
|rowspan=2|48|rowspan=2||rowspan=2||rowspan=2|New York|rowspan=2||rowspan=2||||||
|rowspan=3 style="background: ;"||rowspan=3|(1945–1953)|||||||||||||
|49|||New Hampshire|||||||||||||
|50|||Nebraska|||||||||||||

### Military Department (Department of Defense), 1949–present

<small></small>

|rowspan=2|No.|rowspan=2|Portrait|rowspan=2|Name|colspan=3|Term of office|rowspan=2 colspan=2|President(s)|||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|50||||||rowspan=2 style="background: ;"||rowspan=2|(1945–1953)|||||||
|51||||||||||||||||
|52||||||rowspan=4 style="background: ;"||rowspan=4|(1953–1961)|||||||
|53||||||||||||||||
|54||||||||||||||||
|55||||||||||||||||
|56||||||rowspan=2 style="background: ;"||rowspan=2|(1961–1963)|||||||
|57||||||||||||||||
|rowspan=2 style="background:#e6e6aa;"||rowspan=2 style="background:#e6e6aa;"||rowspan=2 style="background:#e6e6aa;"||rowspan=2 style="background:#e6e6aa;"||rowspan=2 style="background:#e6e6aa;"||rowspan=2 style="background:#e6e6aa;"||||||
|rowspan=3 style="background: ;"||rowspan=3|(1963–1969)|||||||||||||
|58||||||||||||||||
|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||||||
|rowspan=2|59|rowspan=2||rowspan=2||rowspan=2||rowspan=2||rowspan=2||||||
|rowspan=4 style="background: ;"||rowspan=4|(1969–1974)|||||||||||||
|60||||||||||||||||
|61||||||||||||||||
|rowspan=2|62|rowspan=2||rowspan=2||rowspan=2||rowspan=2||rowspan=2||||||
|style="background: ;"||(1974–1977)||||||||||||||
|63||||||rowspan=2 style="background: ;"||rowspan=2|(1977–1981)|||||||
|64||||||||||||||||
|65||||||rowspan=3 style="background: ;"||rowspan=3|(1981–1989)|||||||
|66||||||||||||||||
|rowspan=2|67|rowspan=2||rowspan=2||rowspan=2||rowspan=2||rowspan=2||||||
|rowspan=5 style="background: ;"||rowspan=5|(1989–1993)|||||||||||||
|68||||||||||||||||
|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||||||
|rowspan=2|69|rowspan=2||rowspan=2||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||||||
|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||rowspan=3 style="background: ;"||rowspan=3|(1993–2001)|
|70||||||||||||||||
|71||||||||||||||||
|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||rowspan=7 style="background: ;"||rowspan=7|(2001–2009)|
|72||||||||||||||||
|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||||||
|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||||||
|73||||||||||||||||
|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||||||
|rowspan=2|74|rowspan=2||rowspan=2||rowspan=2||rowspan=2||rowspan=2||||||
|rowspan=3 style="background: ;"||rowspan=3|(2009–2017)|||||||||||||
|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||||||
|75||||||||||||||||
|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||rowspan=7 style="background: ;"||rowspan=7|(2017–2021)|
|76||||||||||||||||
|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||||||
|76||||||||||||||||
|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||||||
|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||||||
|77||||||||||||||||
|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||rowspan=2 style="background: ;"||rowspan=2|(2021–2025)|
|78||||||||||||||||
|style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||style="background:#e6e6aa;"||rowspan=2 style="background: ;"||rowspan=2|(2025–present)|
|79||||_Incumbent_||||||||||||

## Infobox (official post)

- **post**: United States Secretary
- **body**: the Navy
- **insignia**: United States Department of the Navy Seal.svg
- **insigniacaption**: Seal of the Department of the Navy
- **flag**: Flag of the United States Secretary of the Navy.svg
- **flagcaption**: Flag of the secretary
- **image**: Secretary of Navy John Phelan.png
- **incumbent**: John Phelan (businessman), John Phelan
- **acting**: no
- **incumbentsince**: 25 March 2025
- **department**: United States Department of the Navy, Department of the Navy
- **style**: Mr. Secretary
The Honorable (formal)
- **abbreviation**: SECNAV
- **reports to**: United States Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Defense
United States Deputy Secretary of Defense, Deputy Secretary of Defense
- **appointer**: The President of the United States, president
- **appointer qualified**: with United States Senate, Senate advice and consent
- **first**: Benjamin Stoddert
- **succession**: United States Secretary of Defense#Succession, 3rd in SecDef succession
- **deputy**: Under Secretary of the Navy, Under Secretary
(Principal Civilian Deputy)
Chief of Naval Operations
(Navy Advisor and Deputy)
Commandant of the United States Marine Corps, Commandant
(Marine Corps Advisor and Deputy)
- **salary**: Executive Schedule, Executive Schedule, level II