Captain loses helm of carrier
He copied letter seeking Navy aid to 20plus people
The captain of a nuclear aircraft carrier who pleaded with Navy officials for more resources to remove most of his nearly 5,000 crew members from the coronavirusinfected warship, warning sailors could die, was relieved of his command Thursday.
Capt. Brett Crozier, commander of the Theodore Roosevelt, sent a letter to Navy leaders this week pleading for immediate help for his crew as the coronavirus spread through the warship. Navy leaders, however, said he showed “extremely poor judgment” in copying the letter to more than 20 people, saying that allowed it to become public and undermine national security.
Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said at a Pentagon news conference that Crozier had been relieved “at my direction.” He said the captain hadn’t let his superiors know the seriousness of the situation aboard his ship before The Chronicle
revealed the contents of a letter he wrote to Navy brass, and that he hadn’t taken steps to ensure the plea would not be leaked.
Crozier was dismissed a day after top Navy officials had said he would not face retaliation for the letter asking for measures to help the crew of the aircraft carrier, which is in port in Guam.
“The fact that he wrote the letter ... to his chain of command to express his concerns would absolutely not result in any type of retaliation,” Adm. Michael Gilday, chief of naval operations, said Wednesday. “This is what we want our commanding officers to be able to do.”
The plea from Crozier, a Santa Rosa native, was made in a letter, obtained exclusively by The Chronicle, which reported about it Tuesday. Crozier, 50, asked Navy officials for resources to allow isolation of his entire crew and avoid possible deaths in a situation he described as quickly deteriorating.
“This will require a political solution but it is the right thing to do,” Crozier wrote in the letter Monday. “We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die. If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset — our Sailors.”
On Thursday, Modly said Crozier had let his emotions color his judgment and that he had jeopardized naval operations. He said Crozier had been in touch with top military officers before writing the letter and had asked only for quicker evacuation of the carrier’s sailors.
“At no time did (Crozier) 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 by the CO’s hometown newspaper,” Modly said.
He said he did not know if Crozier had leaked the letter, but that the captain had copied the email to 20 to 30 people. He said that increased the chances it would be publicized outside the Navy’s chain of command, which showed “extremely poor judgment in times of crisis.”
“Command is a sacred trust, which must be continually earned,” Modly said, adding that he had spoken with Crozier before deciding to relieve him. “As I learned more about the events of the past week aboard the Teddy Roosevelt ... I could reach no other conclusion than Capt. Crozier had allowed the complexity of his challenge with the COVID breakout on his ship to overwhelm his ability to act professionally, when acting professionally is what we needed most at the time.”
Just a day before his dismissal, Crozier wrote a letter to Roosevelt sailors and their families, also obtained exclusively by The Chronicle, in which he said he fought to “get all our Sailors into an environment more aligned with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations, and that is more conducive to our team’s wellness, enabling us all to get back to sea.”
He described how each sailor would get an individual room in Guam where they will be fed, have wifi access, laundry service, mail instructions and most importantly their “own space.”
“Upon completion of this process, we will return to sea and be ready to execute whatever orders come our way; healthy and on a clean ship,” Crozier wrote.
Of nearly 1,300 sailors aboard the Theodore Roosevelt who have been screened for the disease, 116 tested positive, Navy officials said Thursday. But about half the tests have not been returned. About 1,000 sailors, or 20%, have been removed from the ship, Navy officials said.
In the next 24 hours, they said, they hope to take a total of 2,700 crew members off the vessel. The first sailors were moved to a oceanfront hotel in the tourist section of Guam on Wednesday.
Retired Adm. James Stavridis, former NATO supreme allied commander in Europe, told The Chronicle this week in an email that “we should expect more such incidents because warships are a perfect breeding ground for coronavirus . ... It is impossible to do social distancing” on ships where sailors live in tight quarters.
President Trump was asked at a White House briefing Thursday whether it appeared that Crozier was being punished for trying to save the lives of his crew.
“No, I don’t think so at all,” the president replied. “I don’t agree with that at all. Not at all. Not even a little bit.”
One Roosevelt sailor told The Chronicle that dismissing Crozier was “the exact wrong thing to do.”
“Taking care of your people is the first rule of leadership. Firing him betrays that,” said the sailor, who is not being identified under The Chronicle’s anonymous sources policy because he was not authorized to speak to the media. He said sailors on the ship did not know Crozier had been relieved before the Pentagon announced it.
“We’re rudderless,” the sailor said.
Elizabeth Paz of Tulsa, Okla., whose 19yearold daughter serves on the carrier, said she couldn’t believe the news.
“My heart just sank when I read that,” Paz told The Chronicle. “That’s just not right. He did what he thought was best for his crew . ... Then he did everything he could to get the help he needed. And it worked.
“I thought he would be thought of as a hero after this is all over. Well, he is a hero to me either way. But it’s completely wrong for them to relieve him of his duty.”
Leading Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee blasted Navy leaders for an “overreaction” in dismissing Crozier, although they conceded that he did not handle the matter “appropriately.”
“While Captain Crozier clearly went outside the chain of command, his dismissal at this critical moment — as the sailors aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt are confronted with the COVID19 pandemic — is a destabilizing move that will likely put our service members at greater risk and jeopardize our fleet’s readiness,” said a statement signed by committee chair Adam Smith, DWash., Rep. John Garamendi, DWalnut Grove (Sacramento County),
Rep. Jackie Speier, DSan Mateo, and others.
“Captain Crozier was justifiably concerned about the health and safety of his crew, but he did not handle the immense pressure appropriately,” the House Democrats said. “However, relieving him of his command, when his crew needs leadership the most, seems like an overreaction.”
Lawrence Korb, a former assistant secretary of defense under President Ronald Reagan, said Crozier was a “real hero” who had put his sailors’ health above career concerns.
“He was trying to get the attention of his chain of command and they weren’t doing anything,” said Korb, a retired Navy captain who is now a senior fellow at the leftleaning Center for American Progress think tank. “Your main obligation is to take care of the women and men you’re in charge of.”