The commanding officer who sounded the alarm over confirmed cases of COVID-19 on a US Naval vessel, has been relieved of duty.
Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly announced late last week that the commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, now docked in Guam, was relieved “at my direction.”
Navy Capt. Brett Crozier, the carrier’s commander, was sacked after he was accused of leaking a letter to the media that went “outside the chain of command” pleading for help after more than 100 sailors on board tested positive for the coronavirus, and nearly 100 others are suspected of contracting the virus.
Modly said, “This decision is not one of retribution.” In his complete statement to the press, Modly said, “I did not come to this decision lightly. I have no doubt in my mind [Captain] Crozier did what he thought was in the best interest [of] the safety and well-being of his crew. Unfortunately, he did the opposite.”
Modly continued, “It unnecessarily raised alarms with the families of our sailors and Marines with no plan to address those concerns. It raised concerns about the operational security and operational capability of that ship that could have emboldened our adversaries to seek advantage and it undermined the chain of command.”
Modly said Crozier was not out of line for raising concerns, but “it was the way in which he did it,” saying that it “created panic on the ship” and “misrepresented the facts,” adding that Americans back home were “panicked.”
Modly said that more than 100 sailors have tested positive and there will be more, but said all the cases are “mild.” The Acting Secretary said Crozier created a panic by suggesting as many as “50 sailors could die.”
“It raised alarm bells unnecessarily,” he told the press. Modly said the commanding officer could have reached out to him directly, but didn’t. He was also not happy the letter was sent out over an email server that is “not secure.”
Modly said he thought the skipper became “overwhelmed” at the situation and acted unprofessionally and violated the “sacred trust” given to all commanding officers in the Navy.
“It demonstrated poor judgement in the middle of a crisis,” Modly said.
The USS Theodore Roosevelt is a Nimitz Class aircraft carrier, commissioned in the 1980s.
The ship, with a crew of nearly 5,000, is docked in Guam, and the Navy has said as many as 3,000 sailors had been taken off the ship and quarantined by Friday. More than 100 sailors on the ship have tested positive for the virus, but none are hospitalized at this point.
The ousted commander of the coronavirus-stricken USS Theodore Roosevelt may face further disciplinary action, the acting Navy secretary said.
“He’ll get reassigned; he’s not thrown out of the Navy.”
Modly said everyone, including the aircraft carrier commander, deserves a chance at “redemption.”
Crozier’s final punishment will be decided following an investigation into the incident.
“I’m not going to direct them to do anything (other) than to investigate the facts to the best of their ability. I cannot exercise undue command influence over that investigation,” Modly said.
Over the weekend it was announced that Captain Crozier has tested positive for COVID-19.
Why the Captain allowed crew members to leave the ship in Vietnam have knowledge of the virus spreading through Asia is beyond making any sense. Then when acting recklessly, my opinion, shows an inability to act properly when under pressure when crew members became ill. Following protocol is an absolute requirement and the Captain violated his requirement to protect his crew by getting help through channels.
My prayers go out to all of the crew for their safety and recovering from the virus.
His only mistake was not going through his immediate supervisor through secure channels and asked what direction was desired. I have questions…..did he immediately issolate those who had the symptoms, did they have adequate tests on board so they could find out who needed quarentine and who could continue on their duties, and why did it take so long before the alarm was sounded ? The very first case should have required far fewer in quarenteen than 100 sailors……perhaps the corpsman bare some of the blame in this one .
In this case I believe the action was warranted. It did not call for a split-second decision in the operation of the ship and its mission. He should have docked, permitted no liberty (self-quarantine) and requested advice or orders from superiors. These days its very hard for a ship of that size to keep scuttle-but from leaving, thanks to iphones.
Whether or not to allow the ship to dock in Vietnam and allow sailors to go ashore is not the captains call. And event like that is a decision well above his pay grade Having been coordinated between the State Department and the Pentagon. However Captain Crozier was wrong and should’ve been relieved of duty. He is not a worrier. Most of the senior ranks of warriors in the US Navy were cashiered in the Obama years when the military was regarded with distain
Captain Crozier had a higher duty, higher than his duty to protect his crew. He had a duty to protect all of the people of the United States. Protecting us is why the USS Theodore Roosevelt was built. By revealing through not secure channels that the ship’s crew was compromised, he compromised the security of the United States.
As a young, Army soldier in the Cold War, I worked with classified documents and equipment. In my unit, we understood the importance of our mission. Captain Crozier’s responsibility was far greater than ours, but so was his experience and rank. If soldiers cannot rely on the integrity of their Commanding Officers, who can they rely on. Crozier dropped the ball for all of us.
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