United States Secretary of the Navy facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Secretary of the Navy
Flag of the secretary
Seal of the Department of the Navy
Incumbent Carlos Del Toro since 9 August 2021
Department of the Navy
Style	Mister Secretary The Honorable (formally)
Abbreviation	SECNAV
Reports to	Secretary of Defense Deputy Secretary of Defense
Appointer	The President, with Senate advice and consent
Constituting instrument	10 U.S.C. § 8013
Formation	18 June 1798; 226 years ago (18 June 1798)
First holder	Benjamin Stoddert
Succession	3rd in SecDef succession
Deputy	The Under Secretary (Principal Civilian Deputy) Chief of Naval Operations (Navy Advisor and Deputy) The Commandant (Marine Corps Advisor and Deputy)
Salary	Executive Schedule, level II

The secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) is a statutory officer (10 U.S.C. § 8013) and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department within the United States Department of Defense.

By law, the secretary of the Navy must be a civilian at least five years removed from active military service. The secretary is appointed by the president and requires confirmation by the Senate.

The secretary of the Navy was, from its creation in 1798, a member of the president's Cabinet until 1949, when the secretary of the Navy (and the secretaries of the Army and Air Force) were by amendments to the National Security Act of 1947 made subordinate to the secretary of defense.

On August 7, 2021, Carlos Del Toro was confirmed as secretary of the Navy.

From 2001 to 2019, proposals to rename the Department of the Navy to the Department of the Navy and Marine Corps, which would have also renamed the secretary of the Navy to the secretary of the Navy and Marine Corps, were introduced with wide support in the United States Congress, but failed due to the opposition of Senator and former U.S. Navy officer John McCain.

Responsibilities

The Department of the Navy (DoN) consists of two uniformed services: the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. The secretary of the Navy is responsible for, and has statutory authority (10 U.S.C. § 8013) to "conduct all the affairs of the Department of the Navy", i.e. as its chief executive officer, subject to the limits of the law, and the directions of the president and the secretary of defense. In effect, all authority within the Navy and Marine Corps, unless specifically exempted by law, is derivative of the authority vested in the secretary of the Navy.

Specifically enumerated responsibilities of the SECNAV in the aforementioned section are: recruiting, organizing, supplying, equipping, training, mobilizing, and demobilizing. The secretary also oversees the construction, outfitting, and repair of naval ships, equipment, and facilities. SECNAV is responsible for the formulation and implementation of policies and programs that are consistent with the national security policies and objectives established by the president or the secretary of defense.

The secretary of the Navy is a member of the Defense Acquisition Board (DAB), chaired by the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. Furthermore, the secretary has several statutory responsibilities under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) with respect to the administration of the military justice system for the Navy & the Marine Corps, including the authority to convene general courts-martial and to commute sentences.

The principal military advisers to the SECNAV are the two service chiefs of the naval services: for matters regarding the Navy the chief of naval operations (CNO), and for matters regarding the Marine Corps the commandant of the Marine Corps (CMC). The CNO and the Commandant act as the principal executive agents of the SECNAV within their respective services to implement the orders of the secretary.

Navy Regulations

The United States Navy Regulations is the principal regulatory document of the Department of the Navy, and all changes to it must be approved by the secretary of the Navy.

U.S. Coast Guard

Whenever the United States Coast Guard operates as a service within the Department of the Navy, the secretary of the Navy has the same powers and duties with respect to the Coast Guard as the secretary of homeland security when the Coast Guard is not operating as a service in the Department of the Navy.

The Navy Secretariat

The Office of the Secretary of the Navy, also known within DoD as the Navy Secretariat or simply just as the Secretariat in a DoN setting, is the immediate headquarters staff that supports the secretary in discharging his duties. The principal officials of the Secretariat include the under secretary of the Navy (the secretary's principal civilian deputy), the assistant secretaries of the Navy (ASN), the general counsel of the Navy, the judge advocate general of the Navy (JAG), the Naval inspector general (NIG), the chief of Legislative Affairs, and the chief of naval research. The Office of the Secretary of the Navy has sole responsibility within the Department of the Navy for acquisition, auditing, financial and information management, legislative affairs, and public affairs.

Pursuant to SecNavInst 5090.5F, the Department of the Navy Environmental Programs Manual, the secretary of the Navy and chief of naval operations recognize a number of commands annually for achievements in such areas as environmental quality, environmental cleanup, natural resources conservation, cultural resources management, pollution prevention, and recycling.

The chief of naval operations and the commandant of the Marine Corps have their own separate staffs, the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (also known by its acronym OPNAV) and Headquarters Marine Corps.

Secretaries of the Navy

     Denotes acting secretaries

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

No.	Portrait	Name	State	Term of office	Served under
1		Benjamin Stoddert	Maryland	18 June 1798 – 31 March 1801	John Adams/Thomas Jefferson
2		Robert Smith	Maryland	27 July 1801 – 4 March 1809	Thomas Jefferson
3		Paul Hamilton	South Carolina	15 May 1809 – 31 December 1812	James Madison
4		William Jones	Pennsylvania	19 January 1813 – 1 December 1814
5		Benjamin W. Crowninshield	Massachusetts	16 January 1815 – 30 September 1818
					James Monroe
6		Smith Thompson	New York	1 January 1819 – 31 August 1823
7		Samuel L. Southard	New Jersey	16 September 1823 – 4 March 1829
					John Quincy Adams
8		John Branch	North Carolina	9 March 1829 – 12 May 1831	Andrew Jackson
9		Levi Woodbury	New Hampshire	23 May 1831 – 30 June 1834
10		Mahlon Dickerson	New Jersey	1 July 1834 – 30 June 1838
					Martin Van Buren
11		James K. Paulding	New York	1 July 1838 – 4 March 1841
12		George E. Badger	North Carolina	6 March 1841 – 11 September 1841	William Henry Harrison
					John Tyler
13		Abel P. Upshur	Virginia	11 October 1841 – 23 July 1843
14		David Henshaw	Massachusetts	24 July 1843 – 18 February 1844
15		Thomas W. Gilmer	Virginia	19 February 1844 – 28 February 1844
16		John Y. Mason	Virginia	26 March 1844 – 4 March 1845
17		George Bancroft	Massachusetts	11 March 1845 – 9 September 1846	James K. Polk
18		John Y. Mason	Virginia	10 September 1846 – 4 March 1849
19		William B. Preston	Virginia	8 March 1849 – 22 July 1850	Zachary Taylor
20		William A. Graham	North Carolina	2 August 1850 – 25 July 1852	Millard Fillmore
21		John P. Kennedy	Maryland	26 July 1852 – 4 March 1853
22		James C. Dobbin	North Carolina	8 March 1853 – 4 March 1857	Franklin Pierce
23		Isaac Toucey	Connecticut	7 March 1857 – 4 March 1861	James Buchanan
24		Gideon Welles	Connecticut	7 March 1861 – 4 March 1869	Abraham Lincoln
					Andrew Johnson
25		Adolph E. Borie	Pennsylvania	9 March 1869 – 25 June 1869	Ulysses S. Grant
26		George M. Robeson	New Jersey	26 June 1869 – 4 March 1877
(acting)		William Faxon		4 March 1877 – 13 March 1877	Rutherford B. Hayes
27		Richard W. Thompson	Indiana	13 March 1877 – 20 December 1880
28		Nathan Goff Jr.	West Virginia	7 January 1881 – 4 March 1881
29		William H. Hunt	Louisiana	7 March 1881 – 16 April 1882	James A. Garfield
					Chester A. Arthur
30		William E. Chandler	New Hampshire	16 April 1882 – 4 March 1885
31		William C. Whitney	New York	7 March 1885 – 4 March 1889	Grover Cleveland
32		Benjamin F. Tracy	New York	6 March 1889 – 4 March 1893	Benjamin Harrison
33		Hilary A. Herbert	Alabama	7 March 1893 – 4 March 1897	Grover Cleveland
34		John Davis Long	Massachusetts	6 March 1897 – 30 April 1902	William McKinley
					Theodore Roosevelt
35		William H. Moody	Massachusetts	1 May 1902 – 30 June 1904
36		Paul Morton	Illinois	1 July 1904 – 30 June 1905
37		Charles J. Bonaparte	Maryland	1 July 1905 – 16 December 1906
38		Victor H. Metcalf	California	17 December 1906 – 30 November 1908
39		Truman Handy Newberry	Michigan	1 December 1908 – 4 March 1909
40		George von Lengerke Meyer	Massachusetts	6 March 1909 – 4 March 1913	William Howard Taft
41		Josephus Daniels	North Carolina	5 March 1913 – 4 March 1921	Woodrow Wilson
42		Edwin Denby	Michigan	6 March 1921 – 10 March 1924	Warren G. Harding
					Calvin Coolidge
(acting)		Theodore Roosevelt Jr.		10 March 1924 – 19 March 1924
43		Curtis D. Wilbur	California	19 March 1924 – 4 March 1929
44		Charles Francis Adams III	Massachusetts	5 March 1929 – 4 March 1933	Herbert Hoover
45		Claude A. Swanson	Virginia	4 March 1933 – 7 July 1939	Franklin D. Roosevelt
46		Charles Edison	New Jersey	7 July 1939 – 2 January 1940
				2 January 1940 – 24 June 1940
(acting)		Lewis Compton		24 June 1940 – 11 July 1940
47		Frank Knox	Illinois	11 July 1940 – 28 April 1944
(acting)		Ralph Austin Bard		28 April 1944 – 19 May 1944
48		James Forrestal	New York	19 May 1944 – 17 September 1947
					Franklin D. Roosevelt
					Harry S. Truman
49		John L. Sullivan	New Hampshire	18 September 1947 – 24 May 1949
50		Francis P. Matthews	Nebraska	25 May 1949 – 10 August 1949

     Denotes an Acting United States Secretary of the Navy

Military Department (Department of Defense), 1949–present

No.	Portrait	Name	Term of office			Served under
			Began	Ended	Days of service	Secretary	President
50		Francis P. Matthews	10 August 1949	31 July 1951	797	Louis A. Johnson George C. Marshall	Harry S. Truman
51		Dan A. Kimball	31 July 1951	20 January 1953	539	George C. Marshall Robert A. Lovett
52		Robert B. Anderson	4 February 1953	3 March 1954	392	Charles E. Wilson	Dwight D. Eisenhower
53		Charles Thomas	3 May 1954	1 April 1957	1064
54		Thomas S. Gates Jr.	1 April 1957	8 June 1959	798	Charles E. Wilson Neil H. McElroy
55		William B. Franke	8 June 1959	19 January 1961	591	Neil H. McElroy Thomas S. Gates, Jr.
56		John Connally	25 January 1961	20 December 1961	329	Robert McNamara	John F. Kennedy
57		Fred Korth	4 January 1962	1 November 1963	666
(acting)		Paul B. Fay	2 November 1963	28 November 1963	26		John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson
58		Paul Nitze	29 November 1963	30 June 1967	1309		Lyndon B. Johnson
(acting)		Charles F. Baird	1 July 1967	31 August 1967	61
59		Paul Ignatius	1 September 1967	24 January 1969	511	Robert McNamara Clark Clifford Melvin Laird	Lyndon B. Johnson Richard Nixon
60		John Chafee	31 January 1969	4 May 1972	1189	Melvin Laird	Richard Nixon
61		John Warner	4 May 1972	8 April 1974	704	Melvin Laird Elliot Richardson James R. Schlesinger
62		J. William Middendorf	8 April 1974	20 January 1977	1018	James R. Schlesinger Donald Rumsfeld	Richard Nixon Gerald Ford
63		W. Graham Claytor Jr.	14 February 1977	24 August 1979	921	Harold Brown	Jimmy Carter
64		Edward Hidalgo	24 October 1979	20 January 1981	454
65		John Lehman	5 February 1981	10 April 1987	2255	Caspar Weinberger	Ronald Reagan
66		Jim Webb	1 May 1987	23 February 1988	298	Caspar Weinberger Frank Carlucci
67		William L. Ball	28 March 1988	15 May 1989	413	Frank Carlucci Richard B. Cheney	Ronald Reagan George H. W. Bush
68		Henry L. Garrett III	15 May 1989	26 June 1992	1138	Richard B. Cheney	George H. W. Bush
(acting)		Daniel Howard	26 June 1992	7 July 1992	11
69		Sean O'Keefe	7 July 1992	2 October 1992	87
			2 October 1992	20 January 1993	110
(acting)		Admiral Frank B. Kelso II	20 January 1993	21 July 1993	182	Les Aspin	Bill Clinton
70		John H. Dalton	22 July 1993	16 November 1998	1943	Les Aspin William J. Perry William Cohen
71		Richard Danzig	16 November 1998	20 January 2001	796	William Cohen
(acting)		Robert B. Pirie Jr.	20 January 2001	24 May 2001	124	Donald Rumsfeld	George W. Bush
72		Gordon R. England	24 May 2001	30 January 2003	616
(acting)		Susan Livingstone	30 January 2003	7 February 2003	8
(acting)		Hansford T. Johnson	7 February 2003	30 September 2003	235
73		Gordon R. England	1 October 2003	29 December 2005	820
(acting)		Dionel M. Aviles	29 December 2005	3 January 2006	5
74		Donald C. Winter	3 January 2006	13 March 2009	1165	Donald Rumsfeld Robert Gates	George W. Bush Barack Obama
(acting)		B. J. Penn	13 March 2009	19 May 2009	67	Robert Gates	Barack Obama
75		Ray Mabus	19 May 2009	20 January 2017	2803	Robert Gates Leon Panetta Chuck Hagel Ash Carter
(acting)		Sean Stackley	20 January 2017	3 August 2017	195	Jim Mattis	Donald Trump
76		Richard V. Spencer	3 August 2017	15 July 2019	711	Jim Mattis Patrick M. Shanahan (Acting) Mark Esper (Acting)
(acting)		Thomas Modly	15 July 2019	31 July 2019	16	Richard V. Spencer (Acting) Mark Esper
76		Richard V. Spencer	31 July 2019	24 November 2019	116	Mark Esper
(acting)		Thomas Modly	24 November 2019	7 April 2020	135
(acting)		James E. McPherson	7 April 2020	29 May 2020	52
77		Kenneth Braithwaite	29 May 2020	20 January 2021	236
(acting)		Thomas Harker	20 January 2021	9 August 2021	201	David Norquist (Acting) Lloyd Austin	Joe Biden
78		Carlos Del Toro	9 August 2021	Incumbent	1232	Lloyd Austin

     Denotes an Acting United States Secretary of the Navy

See also

In Spanish: Secretario de la Armada de los Estados Unidos para niños

• Military awards of the United States Department of the Navy
• Secretary of the Navy Council of Review Boards
• Stephen Mallory, the only Secretary of the Navy of the Confederate States of America