Navy: Crozier should be reinstated.
WASHINGTON » Capt. Brett E. Crozier should be restored to command of the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, the Navy’s top officials recommended Friday. But Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper, who was briefed on the recommendations, has asked for more time to consider whether to sign off on reinstating the captain of the nuclear-powered carrier.
Esper received the recommendation from the chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Michael M. Gilday, and the acting Navy secretary, James McPherson.
Esper’s decision to hold up the investigation has surprised Navy officials, who believed that the defense secretary would leave the process in the hands of the military chain of command.
A reinstatement of Crozier would be a stunning turnaround in a story that has seized the attention of the Navy, the overall military and even a nation grappling with the coronavirus. From the moment that his letter pleading for help from Navy officials first became public, Crozier has taken on the role of an unlikely hero, willing to risk his career for the sake of his sailors.
After he was fired by a political appointee of President Donald Trump, the saga took on new meaning. A video of hundreds of cheering sailors yelling “Captain Crozier!” as he departed the aircraft carrier, backpack on his shoulder, went viral. The maneuverings afterward of the acting Navy secretary at the time, Thomas B. Modly, to right a crisis in the Navy only deepened public interest.
Now, after a review of the episodes of the last month, it is Modly who is out of his job. Meanwhile, Gilday and Modly’s successor, McPherson, pushed for the reinstatement of Crozier during a meeting Friday with Esper.