In a surprise move late today the navy upheld the decision to fire captain Brett Crozier. The commander who sounded a public alarm about a coronavirus outbreak on his ship, the USS Theodore Roosevelt. Another top commander also reprimanded. In reviewing both admiral baker and captain Crozier's actions, they did not do enough, soon enough. Crozier grabbed headlines when he was removed from his job after an email he wrote was leaked to the media where he begged navy leaders to help his sailors. We are not at war, he wrote, sailors do not need to die.
Chanting his name his crew swarmed to say goodbye to crozier two months ago. A preliminary investigation recommended he be reinstated as captain of the ship. But this new investigation not finding problems with the email. Instead determining crozier and rear admiral Stewart baker did not act decisively and quickly enough to stop the spread of the virus on the ship, including lifting quarantine too quickly and not sending sailors ashore in Guam when beds became available. Had i known then what i know today, I would have not made that recommendation to reinstate captain crozier. One sailor died after contracting the virus on the ship nearly 1,300 ended up testing positive