The U.S. Navy has quietly fired or removed several top officers in recent months but broke with its usual practice of announcing those changes, drawing pushback from members of Congress, the Associated Press reported.

The service relieved Cmdr. Caitlin Cunningham, the commanding officer of the destroyer USS Michael Murphy, on September 27 because of a "loss of confidence", a defence official told the AP. Cunningham had been in the job for less than a year after taking command in October 2025, while the ship was deployed in support of operations against Iran. The removal was ordered by Rear Adm. Todd F. Cimicata, commander of Carrier Strike Group 10, according to The Hill. The destroyer, which left Pearl Harbor on December 1, 2025, with the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, returned home this week at the end of an 11-month deployment.

Typically, the firing of a commanding officer like Cunningham would be announced by the Navy within days, but the service issued no announcement and offered no public comment even when asked, the AP reported. The removal became public only this week, when USNI News first reported it. The Navy has given no reason beyond "loss of confidence", the standard formula it uses in such cases, and has not accused Cunningham of any specific wrongdoing in public.

Two Democratic lawmakers said on Thursday that the Navy also failed to inform Congress that it had fired the entire leadership team of the nuclear-powered attack submarine USS South Dakota last month after the boat ran into something on the seabed. The commanding officer, Cmdr. Daniel Goodwin, the executive officer, Lt. Cmdr. Jacqueline Penichet, and the chief of the boat, Senior Chief Jon Nogaj, were relieved on October 14, according to Stars and Stripes. In a letter to the acting Navy secretary, Hung Cao, and the Navy's top uniformed officer, Adm. Daryl Caudle, Representatives Joe Courtney and Adam Smith said they had "deep frustration" over the failure to notify the House Armed Services Committee.

Separately, the Navy's top doctor, Rear Adm. Brian Monahan, the attending physician to Congress and the Supreme Court, resigned amid misconduct allegations. The controversy is expected to feature at the confirmation hearing scheduled for next week for Cao, the acting secretary of the Navy.