Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao is getting a promotion.
Cao, who has served in an acting role since Navy Secretary John Phelan abruptly left the post in April, will be nominated to be his permanent replacement, President Donald Trump said in a social media post Tuesday.
The nomination to lead the Navy and Marine Corps requires Senate approval.
“The Senate needs to confirm this Warfighter, ASAP, so he can continue the fantastic work he has been doing over the past 4 months,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Cao, a retired Navy captain and former special operations officer, would take over as the U.S. has been embroiled in a war in Iran for six months, and the leadership of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has been challenged by high-level departures from the military and Pentagon.
Phelan left the job in part because a hugely expensive new battleship he championed sparked friction with his superiors, including Hegseth.
The turmoil spiked again on Monday with the resignation of Army Secretary Dan Driscoll after months of disagreements with Hegseth over the firings of senior officers and the service’s priorities.
Cao has unsuccessfully ran for congressional seats from his home state of Virginia. He ran as a Republican for a House seat in 2022 and for Senate two years later, losing both times.
He has been in the spotlight recently over conditions on board the USS Abraham Lincoln, which was on a record-long deployment to the Middle East in support of the Iran War. He and other officials met with family members of the crew in August to hear their concerns about deteriorating conditions and the well-being of the sailors.