United States Secretary of the Navy

Secretary of the Navy SECNAV
Flag of the Secretary of the Navy
Seal of the Department of the Navy Department of the Navy
Incumbent Ray Mabus since May 19, 2009
Department	Department of the Navy
Style	Mister Secretary The Honorable (formal address in writing)
Appointer	The President with the advice and consent of the Senate
Term length	No fixed term
Inaugural holder	Benjamin Stoddert
Formation	June 18, 1798
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	Level II of the Executive Schedule
Website	Official Website

The Secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory office (10 U.S.C. § 5013) and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the Department of Defense of the United States of America.

The Secretary of the Navy must by law be a civilian, at least 5 years removed from active military service, and is appointed by the President and requires confirmation by a majority vote of 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) was by amendments to the National Security Act of 1947 made subordinate to the Secretary of Defense.

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. § 5013) 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 beforementioned 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 any changes to it can only 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 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 Department 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, public affairs, research, and development.

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

(Post of Secretary of Marine created but remained vacant)

Executive Department 1798-1947

No.	Picture	Name	State	Term of Office	Served under
1		Benjamin Stoddert	Maryland	June 18, 1798–March 31, 1801	John Adams
2		Robert Smith	Maryland	July 27, 1801 - March 4, 1809	Thomas Jefferson
3		Paul Hamilton	South Carolina	May 15, 1809–December 31, 1812	James Madison
4		William Jones	Pennsylvania	January 19, 1813–December 1, 1814
5		Benjamin Williams Crowninshield	Massachusetts	January 16, 1815–September 30, 1818	James Madison, James Monroe
6		Smith Thompson	New York	January 1, 1819–August 31, 1823	James Monroe
7		Samuel Lewis Southard	New Jersey	September 16, 1823–March 4, 1829	James Monroe, John Quincy Adams
8		John Branch	North Carolina	March 9, 1829–May 12, 1831	Andrew Jackson
9		Levi Woodbury	New Hampshire	May 23, 1831–June 30, 1834
10		Mahlon Dickerson	New Jersey	July 1, 1834–June 30, 1838	Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren
11		James Kirke Paulding	New York	July 1, 1838–March 4, 1841	Martin Van Buren
12		George Edmund Badger	North Carolina	March 6, 1841–September 11, 1841	William Henry Harrison, John Tyler
13		Abel Parker Upshur	Virginia	October 11, 1841–July 23, 1843	John Tyler
14		David Henshaw	Massachusetts	July 24, 1843–February 18, 1844
15		Thomas Walker Gilmer	Virginia	February 19, 1844–February 28, 1844
16		John Young Mason	Virginia	March 26, 1844–March 4, 1845
17		George Bancroft	Massachusetts	March 11, 1845–September 9, 1846	James Knox Polk
18		John Young Mason	Virginia	September 10, 1846–March 4, 1849
19		William Ballard Preston	Virginia	March 8, 1849–July 22, 1850	Zachary Taylor
20		William Alexander Graham	North Carolina	August 2, 1850–July 25, 1852	Millard Fillmore
21		John Pendleton Kennedy	Maryland	July 26, 1852–March 4, 1853
22		James Cochran Dobbin	North Carolina	March 8, 1853–March 4, 1857	Franklin Pierce
23		Isaac Toucey	Connecticut	March 7, 1857–March 4, 1861	James Buchanan
24		Gideon Welles	Connecticut	March 7, 1861–March 4, 1869	Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson
25		Adolph Edward Borie	Pennsylvania	March 9, 1869–June 25, 1869	Ulysses S. Grant
26		George Maxwell Robeson	New Jersey	June 26, 1869–March 4, 1877
(acting)		William Faxon		March 4, 1877–March 13, 1877	Rutherford B. Hayes
27		Richard Wigginton Thompson	Indiana	March 13, 1877–December 20, 1880
28		Nathan Goff, Jr.	West Virginia	January 7, 1881–March 4, 1881
29		William Henry Hunt	Louisiana	March 7, 1881–April 16, 1882	James Garfield, Chester A. Arthur
30		William Eaton Chandler	New Hampshire	April 16, 1882–March 4, 1885	Chester A. Arthur
31		William Collins Whitney	New York	March 7, 1885–March 4, 1889	Grover Cleveland
32		Benjamin Franklin Tracy	New York	March 6, 1889–March 4, 1893	Benjamin Harrison
33		Hilary Abner Herbert	Alabama	March 7, 1893–March 4, 1897	Grover Cleveland
34		John Davis Long	Massachusetts	March 6, 1897–April 30, 1902	William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt
35		William Henry Moody	Massachusetts	May 1, 1902–June 30, 1904	Theodore Roosevelt
36		Paul Morton	Illinois	July 1, 1904–June 30, 1905
37		Charles Joseph Bonaparte	Maryland	July 1, 1905–December 16, 1906
38		Victor Howard Metcalf	California	December 17, 1906–November 30, 1908
39		Truman Handy Newberry	Michigan	December 1, 1908–March 4, 1909
40		George von Lengerke Meyer	Massachusetts	March 6, 1909–March 4, 1913	William Howard Taft
41		Josephus Daniels	North Carolina	March 5, 1913–March 4, 1921	Woodrow Wilson
42		Edwin Denby	Michigan	March 6, 1921–March 10, 1924	Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge
(acting)		Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.	New York	March 10, 1924–March 19, 1924	Calvin Coolidge
43		Curtis Dwight Wilbur	California	March 19, 1924–March 4, 1929
44		Charles Francis Adams III	Massachusetts	March 5, 1929–March 4, 1933	Herbert Hoover
45	75px	Claude Augustus Swanson	Virginia	March 4, 1933–July 7, 1939	Franklin D. Roosevelt
46		Charles Edison	New Jersey	July 7, 1939–January 2, 1940
				January 2, 1940–June 24, 1940
(acting)		Lewis Compton		June 24, 1940–July 11, 1940
47		William Franklin Knox	Illinois	July 11, 1940–April 28, 1944
(acting)		Ralph A. Bard		April 28, 1944–May 19, 1944
48		James Vincent Forrestal	New York	May 19, 1944–September 17, 1947	Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S Truman

Military Department (Department of Defense) 1947-

No.	Image	Name	Term of Office			Served under:
			Began	Ended	Days of Service	Secretary	President
1		John L. Sullivan	18 September 1947	24 May 1949	614	James V. Forrestal Louis A. Johnson	Harry S. Truman
2		Francis P. Matthews	25 May 1949	31 July 1951	797	Louis A. Johnson George C. Marshall
3		Dan A. Kimball	31 July 1951	20 January 1953	539	George C. Marshall Robert A. Lovett
4		Robert B. Anderson	4 February 1953	3 March 1954	392	Charles E. Wilson	Dwight D. Eisenhower
5		Charles S. Thomas	3 May 1954	1 April 1957	1064
6		Thomas S. Gates	1 April 1957	8 June 1959	798	Charles E. Wilson Neil H. McElroy
7		William B. Franke	8 June 1959	19 January 1961	591	Neil H. McElroy Thomas S. Gates
8		John B. Connally, Jr	25 January 1961	20 December 1961	329	Robert S. McNamara	John F. Kennedy
9		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
10		Paul H. Nitze	29 November 1963	30 June 1967	1309		Lyndon B. Johnson
(acting)		Charles F. Baird	1 July 1967	31 August 1967	61
11		Paul R. Ignatius	1 September 1967	24 January 1969	511	Robert S. McNamara Clark Clifford Melvin R. Laird	Lyndon B. Johnson Richard M. Nixon
12		John H. Chafee	31 January 1969	4 May 1972	1189	Melvin R. Laird	Richard M. Nixon
13		John W. Warner	4 May 1972	8 April 1974	704	Melvin R. Laird Elliot Richardson James R. Schlesinger
14		J. William Middendorf, II	8 April 1974	20 January 1977	1018	James R. Schlesinger Donald H. Rumsfeld	Richard M. Nixon Gerald Ford
15		W. Graham Claytor, Jr.	14 February 1977	24 August 1979	921	Harold Brown	Jimmy Carter
16		Edward Hidalgo	24 October 1979	20 January 1981	454
17		John Lehman	5 February 1981	10 April 1987	2255	Caspar Weinberger	Ronald Reagan
18		Jim Webb	1 May 1987	23 February 1988	298	Caspar Weinberger Frank Carlucci
19		William L. Ball	28 March 1988	15 May 1989	413	Frank Carlucci Dick Cheney	Ronald Reagan George H.W. Bush
20		Henry L. Garrett III	15 May 1989	26 June 1992	1138	Dick Cheney	George H.W. Bush
(acting)		Daniel Howard	26 June 1992	7 July 1992	11
21		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
22		John H. Dalton	22 July 1993	16 November 1998	1943	Les Aspin William J. Perry William S. Cohen
23		Richard Danzig	16 November 1998	20 January 2001	796	William S. Cohen
(acting)		Robert B. Pirie, Jr.	20 January 2001	24 May 2001	124	Donald H. Rumsfeld	George W. Bush
24		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
25		Gordon R. England	1 October 2003	29 December 2005	820
(acting)		Dionel M. Aviles	29 December 2005	3 January 2006	5
26		Donald C. Winter	3 January 2006	13 March 2009	1165	Donald H. Rumsfeld Robert M. Gates	George W. Bush Barack Obama
(acting)		B. J. Penn	13 March 2009	19 May 2009	67	Robert M. Gates	Barack Obama
27		Ray Mabus	19 May 2009	Present	1457	Robert M. Gates Leon Panetta Chuck Hagel