Carrier Capt.’s Firing ‘Raises Critical Questions’ About Navy’s COVID-19 Response, Lawmaker Says

WASHINGTON: The Navy relieved Capt. Brett Crozier, commanding officer of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, sitting at port in Guam with 114 positive COVID-19 cases, after his commanders lost confidence in his ability to lead.

Crozier wrote a memo sent earlier this week pleading with Navy leadership to move quickly to help his crew as the virus moved through his crew. “We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die,” Crozier wrote in his March 30 memo, which was leaked to the San Francisco Chronicle. “If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset—our sailors.”

A video posted Friday of Roosevelt sailors cheering Capt. Croizier as departs the ship after being relieved:

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly told reporters at the Pentagon today: “I did not come to this decision lightly. I have no doubt in my mind Capt. Crozier did what he thought was in the best interest in the safety and well being of his crew. Unfortunately, he did the opposite. It unnecessarily raised alarms with the families of our sailors.”

By Thursday evening, the reaction from Capitol Hill was mixed, but wary.

Ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Jack Reed, said Modly called him earlier in the day “and indicated this was a difficult decision, but one he and the Navy chain of command believes is necessary.” Reed stressed that “naval leadership must make it absolutely clear the decision to relieve Captain Crozier is in no way interpreted as inhibiting any commanding officer from taking necessary steps, through their chain of command, to protect fellow sailors and Marines.” 

Overall however, Reed said the “incident raises critical questions about the Navy’s strategy to combat COVID-19.”

House Armed Services Committee chairman Adam Smith, subcommittee chairs Joe Courtney, John Garamendi, and Jackie Speier issued a joint statement acknowledging Crozier “clearly went outside the chain of command,” but said firing him while the ship’s crew struggles with the COVID-19 outbreak “is a destabilizing move that will likely put our service members at greater risk and jeopardize our fleet’s readiness.” 

The Democratic lawmakers added Crozier “was justifiably concerned about the health and safety of his crew, but he did not handle the immense pressure appropriately. However, relieving him of his command is an overreaction.”

The representatives expressed concern that Defense Secretary Mark Esper has shown a “lack of guidance” during the pandemic, and while he “continues to say that commanders and non-commissioned officers should be calling the shots, forcing them to make decisions on matters outside of their expertise while under immense pressure.”

According to Navy statistics released Thursday night, 31 percent of the Roosevelt crew has been tested for COVID-19, with 114 positive cases so far. A total of 180 Sailors that tested negative will be moved into Guam hotels for quarantine, along with about 3,000 other sailors. No sailors have been hospitalized.

The situation is messy, and it remains unclear who exactly Crozier sent his four-page memo to. Modly said 30 to 40 people were copied on his email to Navy leadership, a wide distribution that “demonstrated extremely poor judgement in the midst of a crisis” Modly told reporters. He added that the ultimate number of stricken sailors will probably be “in the hundreds.”

Modly said Crozier could have “walked down the hall” to his immediate boss, Rear Adm. Stu Baker, commander, Carrier Strike Group 9, and relayed his concerns, or laid it all out to Modly’s chief of staff, who Crozier spoke to the day before.  

“At no time did the CO relay the various levels of alarm that I, along with the rest of the world, learned from his letter when it was published two days later,” Modly said.

“The captain’s actions made his sailors, their families, and many in the public believe that his letter was the only reason help from our larger Navy family was forthcoming, which was hardly the case.”

Rep Seth Moulton tweeted this afternoon, “I learned on my first day in the Marines that having the courage to speak truth to power is grounds for respect not grounds for relief. This is far from the first time in the last several years that Congress is going to have a lot of questions for Navy leadership—on leadership.”