New turn in case of COVID-carrying carrier

The case of Capt. Brett Crozier took another turn last week when the Navy announced he would not return as commanding officer of the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, essentially ending his career.

Crozier attracted international attention when he was relieved of his command April 2, soon after an email he sent up the chain of command found its way to the news media. In the email, the commander pleaded for more help to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak spreading through the ship’s crew.

“Sailors do not need to die,” wrote Crozier. “If we do not act now, we’re failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset — our sailors.”

The chain of command did not take well to being so publicly called out. “This is a captain of a massive ship that’s nuclear powered, and he shouldn’t be talking that way in a letter,” the commander-in-chief, President Donald Trump, told reporters.

About 12% of the 4,900 crew was infected, subsequent testing showed. One sailor died.

By the end of April, however, it looked like Crozier would get his command back. He had been cheered by his crew when leaving the ship and had all the appearance of a man who had become a scapegoat for the Navy’s ineptitude. At that time Adm. Michael Gilday, chief of Naval Operations, recommended Crozier’s return to command.

But Acting Navy Secretary James McPherson wanted a “deeper review” first. That review has not turned out well for the captain. Gilday told reporters the delay and investigation saved him from making the bad decision of restoring Crozier to his post.

“If Capt. Crozier was still in command today, I would have relieved him,” Gilday told reporters at the Pentagon.

Count us as skeptical. It is difficult to judge whether this is a decision with a solid foundation or is more backside covering.

Gilday said this is no longer about the email and its leaking to the press, the original reason for removing Crozier from his command. Instead it is based on the review’s findings that Crozier “did not do enough, soon enough” to best protect his crew.

His reported sins included allowing COVID-19 infected sailors to keep moving about the ship, and not social distance, “placing the comfort of the crew ahead of the safety of the crew.”

Crozier reportedly did not plan for moving sailors off the ship onto the Naval Base Guam, slowing the process. He focused on using hotel space when facilities, like gyms, could have provided for quicker egress from the carrier, the review concluded.

We join our region’s congressman, Joe Courtney, a Democrat and chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces, in saying, essentially, hold on a second.

“Last March, at the outset of the COVID-19 outbreak, Captain Crozier was put in an unknown and impossible position. At that time, even the experts at the CDC and HHS were struggling with COVID-19 guidance, which was changing almost daily,” notes Courtney. “The leaders at DOD (Department of Defense) were foisting COVID-19 decisions on unit commanders such as Captain Crozier, who are not experts on infectious diseases.”

The captain, said Courtney, faced “a lethal virus that the world — and his crew — was just coming to grips with in real time, with little direction from Washington.”

This is a Navy decision, and it won’t change, but the planned investigation of the Crozier firing by the House Armed Services Committee is necessary to get the full picture of what mistakes were made, including any lack of preparedness for such an event.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said there was no formal training in place. “The Navy’s decision now seems to apply a retroactive standard and after-the-fact procedures … to justify Captain Crozier’s firing.” That’s another valid point.

Gilday also announced he was delaying the promotion to two stars of Adm. Stuart Baker, the carrier strike group commander, for not doing enough to limit the virus’ spread when the crisis arose.

Fallout from the episode also ended with the resignation of former Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly. He stepped down after he was roundly criticized for — after firing the captain — traveling to Guam to trash Crozier in a speech to the Roosevelt crew.

Count us as skeptical. It is difficult to judge whether this is a decision with a solid foundation or is more backside covering.