Navy May Reinstate Fired Captain to Command of
Roosevelt
Helene Cooper, Eric
Schmitt and Thomas Gibbons-Neff 1 hr ago
WASHINGTON — The Navy is looking into whether
it can reinstate Capt. Brett E. Crozier, who was removed from command of the
carrier Theodore Roosevelt after he pleaded for more help fighting a novel coronavirus outbreak
aboard his ship, Defense Department officials said on Wednesday.
© Sean Lynch/Agence
France-Presse, via Us Navy/Afp Via Getty Images Capt. Brett E. Crozier
addressing the crew during a change-of-command ceremony on the flight deck of
the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt in San Diego in November.
Adm. Michael M. Gilday, the chief of naval
operations, has indicated that he may reinstate Captain Crozier, who is viewed as a hero by his crew for putting their lives above his
career, officials said.
“No final decisions have been made,” Cmdr.
Nate Christensen, a spokesman for the admiral, said in a statement to The Times
on Wednesday. Commander Christensen added that Admiral Gilday was reviewing the
findings of a preliminary investigation into the events surrounding Captain
Crozier’s removal.
But Admiral Gilday’s decision could be upended
by President Trump, who has not been shy about intervening in military
personnel cases. Just five months ago, Mr. Trump fired Navy Secretary Richard
V. Spencer for opposing the president’s intervention in support of a Navy SEAL
accused of murdering a wounded captive with a hunting knife during a deployment
to Iraq in 2017.
No one in the Navy wants a repeat of those
events, which came complete with Mr. Trump on Twitter admonishing the Navy
leadership’s handling of the SEAL case. But Navy officials insist that Admiral
Gilday will make a decision based on the findings of the investigation into the
Roosevelt crisis, and not on what he thinks the president wants him to do.
Mr. Trump himself has indicated he may be open
to reassessing the events around the firing. He said recently that Captain
Crozier “made a mistake,” but he also noted that the captain “had a bad day.”
It remained unclear how the president would view a move to reinstate Captain
Crozier, or when action would be taken.
Captain Crozier, who is in isolation on Guam
with coronavirus, was removed from command on April 2 by Thomas B. Modly, the
acting Navy secretary at the time, a move that drew outrage among the carrier’s
crew and across the country and eventually led to Mr. Modly’s resignation.
Admiral Gilday and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had both cautioned Mr. Modly not to fire
Captain Crozier until after an investigation into the case has been completed.
Mr. Modly, believing Mr. Trump wanted the captain fired, ignored them,
officials said.
As of Wednesday, 615 Roosevelt crew members
have tested positive for coronavirus; five are in the hospital with one in
intensive care, and one has died. The death of the sailor on Monday was a
poignant punctuation to Captain Crozier’s March 30 plea for help, after four
days of being rebuffed by his superiors in his request to evacuate the ship,
because, he wrote, “sailors don’t need to die.”
That plea, sent in an email to 20 Navy
personnel, became public and angered Mr. Modly, which led to his decision to
remove the captain from his post.
Admiral Gilday indicated last week that he was
open to the possibility of reinstating Captain Crozier once the preliminary
investigation was completed. “I am taking no options off the table as I review
that investigation,” he told reporters. “I think that is my responsibility.”
Any decision to reinstate Captain Crozier
would come with its own problems. Navy officials remain unhappy with the
captain’s decision to send an unclassified letter pleading for help to so many
people, instead of relying on his chain of command. For the Navy to reinstate
him, Admiral Gilday would have to determine that Captain Crozier’s superiors
were not being adequately responsive to his pleas for help before he sent the
letter, Navy officials said.
Admiral Gilday already has the findings of an
initial investigation into the Roosevelt case. But that investigation was
conducted by Adm. Robert P. Burke, the Navy’s second-highest admiral, who was
involved in the situation aboard Roosevelt. It was Admiral Burke who, as part
of the investigation, called the senior medical officer aboard the ship and
criticized the doctor, saying he had failed as a leader, according to crew
members.
In the run-up to Captain Crozier’s letter, the
ship’s medical staff and the captain advocated swift, decisive action, while
Captain Crozier’s immediate boss, Rear Adm. Stuart P. Baker, countered that
less drastic measures would still protect the crew and leave the Roosevelt in
operation.
Admiral Gilday told reporters earlier this
month that a focus of the investigation was determining why Captain Crozier, a
Naval Academy graduate with nearly 30 years of service, felt compelled to send
his four-page letter outside normal communications channels and whether that
illustrated a breakdown in communications with his chain of command,
particularly with Admiral Baker. The Navy has said Captain Crozier did not copy
Admiral Baker on his letter.
Before the results are made public, Admiral
Gilday will consult with the new acting Navy secretary, James E. McPherson, as
well as with Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper and General Milley.
“The Navy investigation now in progress should
take its time and make sure we truly understand the detailed ‘ticktock’ of
events that preceded the letter launched by Captain Crozier,” said James G.
Stavridis, a retired admiral and former top commander of the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization. “If it becomes clear that his chain of command was not
responsive, it makes a potential case for rehabilitation much stronger.”
Mr. Esper, the Pentagon’s top civilian, has
not indicated where he stands on the investigation. Appearing on Fox News on
Wednesday, he appeared to acknowledge that he may eventually have to weigh in.
“At some point it likely will come to me,” he said. “But the most important
thing though is taking care of our sailors who are now in Guam.
The investigation will not examine why the
Roosevelt, and its nearly 5,000 crew members, made a long-scheduled, four-day
port call in Da Nang, Vietnam, beginning on March 5, despite reported cases of
coronavirus in the country.
The top U.S. military officer in Pacific, Adm.
Philip S. Davidson, ordered the visit to proceed as a show of American military
might in a region increasingly worried about China’s growing territorial claims
in the South China Sea.
Navy and Pentagon officials have since
defended the decision, saying there were only a handful of reported coronavirus
cases, mostly in the northern part of the country, at the time the Roosevelt
pulled in. Navy officials publicly say they are not sure how the virus got
aboard the ship, but privately acknowledge that it almost certainly happened
during the port call.
In Guam, many among the Roosevelt’s crew say
they are hoping Captain Crozier will return as their captain. One crew member
described his fired commander as having proved prescient during every chapter of
the crisis. While the ship’s interim commander, Capt. Carlos A. Sardiello, who
commanded the Roosevelt previously, is viewed favorably by much of the crew, he
is not seen to be as receptive to them as Captain Crozier was when he was in
charge.
