The captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, Capt. Brett Crozier wrote a letter to the United States Navy asking for help to prevent sailor deaths because of the spreading coronavirus on board.
Now, Crozier has been removed from duty, Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly said in a press briefing at the Pentagon on April 2.
Modley alleged that Crozier "at no time relayed" the levels of urgency he communicated in his letter to Navy leaders, which Modly said appeared in Crozier's "hometown newspaper." Modly later said he did not know that Crozier leaked the letter and apologized for any insinuation that he had.
"How it got out into the media I don't know," Modly said. "I don't think anyone would ever know."
Modly called Crozier an "honorable man" despite what he characterized as a lapse in judgment, adding that he had ordered a review "of the climate" throughout the Navy's Pacific fleet.
Crozier's removal was not a form of "retribution" for the letter being made public, Modly said.
"It is not an indictment of character, but one of judgment," Modly said, adding that Crozier was right to raise concerns.
"It was the way in which he did it," Modly said, adding that Crozier went outside the chain of command and did not reach out to him directly.
Modly accused Crozier of "creating a panic ... on the ship" with the public release of the letter, which he said "misrepresented the facts."
The decision comes a day after Modly said Crozier did the right thing writing the letter, but that leaking it to the media "would be something that would violate the principles of good order and discipline."
A desperate plea
"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," Crozier wrote in his letter. "Decisive action" is required, he continued, to comply with official virus prevention guidance and "prevent tragic outcomes."
The USS Theodore Roosevelt arrived at port in Guam last Thursday to test all 5,000 crewmembers aboard for COVID-19 after at least 23 positive cases were identified.
"We found several more cases...We are in the process of testing 100 percent of the crew of that ship," Modly said at a previous Pentagon press briefing. "The ship is operationally capable if called upon to do so...but we are pulling the ship into Guam. Nobody from the ship will be allowed to leave the ship other than on the pier."
According to Modly, the USS Theodore Roosevelt had 800 test kits on board — not enough to test the 5,000-member crew.
"We're flying more on there today as we speak," Modly said previously.
As of Monday, official statements from the Department of Defenses confirmed that 40 sailors on board the USS Theodore Roosevelt had tested positive for the virus. But a senior Navy official told the San Fransisco Chronicle — the media outlet that originally obtained the letter — that as many as 200 sailors on board had tested positive.
"The spread of the disease is ongoing and accelerating," Crozier's letter reads.
The letter — four pages long— explained that onboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt, quarantine measures were not working and testing was not working.
Crozier's proposed strategy involved removing all crew members from the ship and isolating them for two weeks while the ship is cleaned and guaranteed to be virus-free.
On Wednesday, the Navy announced that more than 2,700 sailors aboard the Roosevelt would be evacuated to shore in Guam.
"The plan is to remove as many people off the Teddy Roosevelt as we can," Rear Adm. John Menoni, the Navy's Joint Marianas commander said in a previous press briefing.
The sailors will be quarantined in local hotels for 14 days and will be monitored by military security.
Coronavirus send deployed USS Theodore Roosevelt to port, all crew members to be tested
Captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt pleads for help against the virus
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