United States Secretary of the Navy

In the United States, the Secretary of the Navy is the civilian head of the Department of the Navy. He was a member of the President's Cabinet until 1947, when the Navy, Army, and newly created Air Force were placed in the Department of Defense and the Secretary of the Navy was placed under the Secretary of Defense. Naval and Marine personnel informally refer to the Secretary of the Navy as "SECNAV."

Contents

1 Responsibilities

2 The Navy Secretariat

3 Secretaries of the Navy (Cabinet)

4 Secretaries of the Navy (Department of Defense)

5 External links

Responsibilities

The Secretary of the Navy is responsible for, and has the authority under Title 10 of the United States Code, to conduct all the affairs of the Department of the Navy, including: 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 and the Secretary of Defense. The Department of the Navy consists of two uniformed Services: the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps.

The Navy Secretariat

The Office of the Secretary of the Navy and its subordinate officials are known collectively as the Navy Secretariat. Other members of the Secretariat include the Under Secretary of the Navy and the Assistant Secretaries of the Navy (ASN).

Secretaries of the Navy (Cabinet)

Name	Term of Office	Served under
Benjamin Stoddert	June 18, 1798 - March 31, 1801	John Adams
Robert Smith	July 27, 1801 - March 4, 1809	Thomas Jefferson
Paul Hamilton	May 15, 1809 - December 31, 1812	James Madison
William Jones	January 19, 1813 - December 1, 1814	James Madison
Benjamin Williams Crowninshield	January 16, 1815 - September 30, 1818	James Madison, James Monroe
Smith Thompson	January 1, 1819 - August 31, 1823	James Monroe
Samuel L. Southard	September 16, 1823 - March 4, 1829	James Monroe, John Quincy Adams
John Branch	March 9, 1829 - May 12, 1831	Andrew Jackson
Levi Woodbury	May 23, 1823 - June 30, 1834	Andrew Jackson
Mahlon Dickerson	July 1, 1834 - June 30, 1838	Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren
James K. Paulding	July 1, 1838 - March 4, 1841	Martin Van Buren
George E. Badger	March 6, 1841 - September 11, 1841	William Henry Harrison, John Tyler
Abel P. Upshur	October 11, 1841 - July 23, 1843	John Tyler
David Henshaw	July 24, 1843 - February 18, 1844	John Tyler
Thomas W. Gilmer	February 19, 1844 - February 28, 1844	John Tyler
John Y. Mason (first time)	March 26, 1844 - March 4, 1845	John Tyler
George Bancroft	March 11, 1845 - September 9, 1846	James Knox Polk
John Y. Mason (second time)	September 10, 1846 - March 4, 1849	James Knox Polk
William B. Preston	March 8, 1849 - July 22, 1850	Zachary Taylor
William A. Graham	August 2, 1850 - July 25, 1852	Millard Fillmore
John P. Kennedy	July 26, 1852 - March 4, 1853	Millard Fillmore
James C. Dobbin	March 8, 1853 - March 4, 1857	Franklin Pierce
Isaac Toucey	March 7, 1857 - March 4, 1861	James Buchanan
Gideon Welles	March 7, 1861 - March 4, 1869	Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson
Adolph E. Borie	March 9, 1869 - June 25, 1869	Ulysses S. Grant
George M. Robeson	June 26, 1869 - March 4, 1877	Ulysses S. Grant
Richard W. Thompson	March 13, 1877 - December 20, 1880	Rutherford B. Hayes
Nathan Goff, Jr.	January 7, 1881 - March 4, 1881	Rutherford B. Hayes
William H. Hunt	March 7, 1881 - April 16, 1882	James Garfield, Chester A. Arthur
William E. Chandler	April 16, 1882 - March 4, 1885	Chester A. Arthur
William C. Whitney	March 7, 1885 - March 4, 1889	Grover Cleveland
Benjamin F. Tracy	March 6, 1889 - March 4, 1893	Benjamin Harrison
Hilary A. Herbert	March 7, 1893 - March 4, 1897	Grover Cleveland
John D. Long	March 6, 1897 - April 30, 1902	William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt
William H. Moody	May 1, 1902 - June 30, 1904	Theodore Roosevelt
Paul Morton	July 1, 1904 - June 30, 1905	Theodore Roosevelt
Charles J. Bonaparte	July 1, 1905 - December 16, 1906	Theodore Roosevelt
Victor H. Metcalf	December 17, 1906 - November 30, 1908	Theodore Roosevelt
Truman Handy Newberry	December 1, 1908 - March 4, 1909	Theodore Roosevelt
George von Lengerke Meyer	March 6, 1909 - March 4, 1913	William Howard Taft
Josephus Daniels	March 5, 1913 - March 4, 1921	Woodrow Wilson
Edwin C. Denby	March 6, 1921 - March 10, 1924	Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge
Curtis D. Wilbur	March 19, 1924 - March 4, 1929	Calvin Coolidge
Charles Francis Adams	March 5, 1929 - March 4, 1933	Herbert Hoover
Claude A. Swanson	March 4, 1933 - July 7, 1939	Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Charles Edison	January 2, 1940 - June 24, 1940	Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Frank Knox	July 11, 1940 - April 28, 1944	Franklin Delano Roosevelt
James V. Forrestal	May 19, 1944 - September 17, 1947	Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman

Secretaries of the Navy (Department of Defense)

Name	Term of Office
John L. Sullivan	September 18, 1947 - May 24, 1949
Francis P. Matthews	May 25, 1949 - July 31, 1951
Dan A. Kimball	July 31, 1951 - January 20, 1953
Robert B. Anderson	February 4, 1953 - March 3, 1954
Charles S. Thomas	May 3, 1954 - April 1, 1957
Thomas S. Gates	April 1, 1957 - June 8, 1959
William B.Franke	June 8, 1959 - January 19, 1961
John B. Connally, Jr	January 25, 1961 - December 20, 1961
Fred Korth	January 4, 1962 - November 1, 1963
Paul B. Fay (acting)	November 2, 1963 - November 28, 1963
Paul H. Nitze	November 29, 1963 - June 30, 1967
Charles F. Baird (acting)	July 1, 1967 - August 31, 1967
Paul R. Ignatius	September 1, 1967 - January 24, 1969
John H. Chafee	January 31, 1969 - May 4, 1972
John W. Warner	May 4, 1972 - April 8, 1974
J. William Middendorf	April 8, 1974 - January 20, 1977
W. Graham Claytor, Jr.	February 14, 1977 - August 24, 1979
Edward Hidalgo	October 24, 1979 - January 20, 1981
John Lehman	February 5, 1981 - April 10, 1987
James H. Webb	May 1, 1987 - February 23, 1988
William L. Ball	March 28, 1988 - May 15, 1989
Henry L. Garrett III	May 15, 1989 - June 26, 1992
Daniel Howard (acting)	June 26, 1992 - July 7, 1992
Sean O'Keefe	October 2, 1992 - January 20, 1993
Admiral Frank B. Kelso, II (acting)	January 2, 1993 - July 21, 1993
John H. Dalton	July 22, 1993 - November 16, 1998
Richard Danzig	November 16, 1998 - January 20, 2001
Robert B. Pirie, Jr. (acting)	January 20, 2001 - May 24, 2001
Gordon R. England	May 24, 2001 - January 30, 2003
Susan Livingstone (acting)	January 30, 2003 - February 7, 2003
Hansford T. Johnson (acting)	February 7, 2003 - September 30, 2003
Gordon R. England	October 1, 2003 - Present