Relieved of duty as captain of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS. Theodore Roosevelt, Capt. Brett Crozier thought he was doing the right thing writing a four-page letter begging the Navy to allow him to let his 4,800 crew off the ship—including those infected with corona virus—in Guam to clear the vessel of a coronavirus AKA SARS CoV-2 or Covid-19 outbreak. Crozier thought he was doing the right thing writing a four-page letter to pressure Navy Secretary Thomas Modly to allow his 4,800 sailors to disembark the ship in Guam. “We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die,” Crozier wrote. “If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset—our Sailors,” Crozer wrote in his letter. Crozier said it was impossible to quarantine sailors because of the tight quarters where the coronavirus had spread like wildfire on the 1,082 ft.-long, 262 ft.-wide Nimitz-class vessel.
Built by Newport News Shipbuilding and launched Oct. 27, 1984, the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier can travel over the water at 30-knots, saw action in the 1991 Gulf War. Crozier knew his responsibility to his crew but also to the chain of command placing trust in him to manage a $4.5 billion carrier in today’s dollars. “I thought it was terrible what he did, to write a letter?” Trump said at his Saturday, April 4 coronavirus press briefing. “I mean, this isn’t a class on literature. This is a captain of a massive ship that’s nuclear-powered,” agreeing with Navy Secretary Thomsas Modly to relieve Croziers from duty. When he was escorted off the ship in Guam, Crozier’s crew applauded his actions, winning support from the anti-Trump press, looking for more ways to criticize the president. Crozier was fired by the Navy for bypassing the chain of command, writing his four-page letter.
Crozier cracked under the pressure of dealing with a rapidly spreading coronvirus infection on his ship, perhaps fearing for his own life. Navy officials don’t test captains for mysophobia [fear of germs] or how easily they crack under pressure. Crozier’s letter clearly showed he was disturbed watching the virus spread through his 4,800-member crew. “He wrote a letter. The letter was a five-page letter from a captain. And the letter was all over the place,” Trump told reporters yesterday. “That’s not appropriate. I don’t think that’s appropriate,” Trump said, agreeing with Navy brass that Crozier lost his capacity to command one the Navy’s most priceless assets. Modly said Crozier didn’t think “who that information went to,” referring to Crozier’s letter leaking to the press. Crozier said in the letter he couldn’t “quarantine” sailors or practice “social distancing” guidelines to stop the coronavirus from spreading.
Navy officials said Crozier was terminated because he bypassed the “chain of command,” requiring Crozier to notify his admiral in charge before going public with his concerns. Crozier’s insubordination was eerily similar to former Inspector General [IB] for the intelligence community Michael Atkinson who was fired by Trump April 3 for leaking Trump’s July 25, 2019 phone call with 40-year-old Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky. Atkinson referred the phone call with Congress without vetting the credibility of the so-called whistleblower complaint. Yet like with Akinson, the media sympathizes with Crozier, not knowing appropriate protocol for commanders of Navy vessels. Dealing with infectious disease on Navy ships isn’t easy but Crozier had a chain-of-command to follow before going public with his personal letter. Modly confirmed that Crozier “circumvented” his chain-of-command.
Crozier said in his letter removing all 4,800 sailors in Guam was a “extraordinary measure” but is was a “necessarily risky,” a decision that wasn’t his to make without going through proper channels. “We are not at war,” Crozier wrote. “Sailors do not need to die,” giving the first hint that Crozier panicked, not something wanted in naval captains with so much responsibility. There’s no reason to believe that that deaths of young, vigorous crew were imminent, only that they had showed Covid-19 symptoms. Crozier didn’t say in his letter that he was dealing with critical care that couldn’t be provided on the ship’s medical facilities. “If we do not act now, we are failing to properly care of out most trusted asset—out sailors,” Crozier wrote but not explaining the critical care needs no accommodated by the ship’s medical crew. Crozier’s letter mirrored a degree of panic not acceptable to Navy captains.
When the USS Roosevelt docked in Guam, 155 crew or 3.2% tested positive for coronavirus but none required hospitalization. Crozier’s letter expressed urgency of potential death of crew, showing he had lost his grip on the situation. While 1,548 sailors were moved off the ship, there was no indication that any of the crew required anything more than quarantine or social distancing. Writing about the USS Theodore Roosevelt incident, the media showed little understanding of the Navy’s concerns about Capt. Crozier. Print and broadcast outlets seemed critical of Trump, who agreed wholeheartedly with Navy brass that Crozier was insubordinate. While the Navy has sympathy for the coronavirus epidemic, they have no sympathy for commanders that don’t follow the appropriate chain of command. Unlike the private sector, there are rules and protocol in the military.
