Navy carries Trump’s water

Administration officials took care to note last week that the White House stayed out of the Navy investigation that ended a whistleblowing officer’s career. But believing that would require ignoring the fact that President Trump said he “100%” agreed with the Navy’s kneejerk decision to relieve Capt. Brett Crozier of command in April, accused the captain of something “terrible” and, just months ago, fired a Navy secretary for daring to differ with him.

Crozier, a Santa Rosa native who commanded the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, was ousted April 2 after The Chronicle revealed his letter to superiors pleading for a swifter response to the ship’s coronavirus outbreak, which ultimately infected over 1,200 sailors — including the captain himself — and killed one. Thenacting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly, reportedly swayed by Trump, carried out the retaliatory act. Modly was subsequently forced out over a leaked recording of him disparaging the captain as malicious, “naive” or “stupid” in a rant before his former crew.

Dissent within the ranks was clear early on, and not just from the cheers of support while Crozier departed his ship. The Navy’s chief of operations, Adm. Mike Gilday, said it wasn’t “looking to shoot the messenger” and, after a preliminary investigation, recommended Crozier’s reinstatement.

Now Gilday and other top military officials have found a novel retrospective justification for Crozier’s ouster. They announced Friday that based on further investigation, the captain deserved to be fired not for urging the Navy to respond more effectively but for failing to do so himself.

They reached this conclusion by picking apart the decisions of Crozier and a few other officers and recasting the hero of the outbreak as one of its villains. Meanwhile, the superior officer who approved the port of call that likely brought the virus aboard is forgiven.

The Navy brass’ latest probe was conducted with the benefit of hindsight about the contagion and foresight as to the result that would salvage their jobs. Modly’s predecessor as Navy secretary was, after all, dismissed for resisting Trump’s meddling in military discipline. A welcome congressional investigation may reach different conclusions, but the damage to the Navy’s reputation and readiness has been done.