On April 23, 1949, Defense Secretary Louis Johnson canceled the Navy’s new aircraft carrier, the USS United States. Navy officers kept fighting the decision in Congress. On October 13, the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Louis Denfeld, testified: “There is a steady campaign to relegate the Navy to a convoy and antisubmarine service.”
Time magazine called it “the revolt of the admirals.” On October 27, 1949, President Truman removed Denfeld as Chief of Naval Operations.