Defense Secretary Mark Esper said it is possible that the fired captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt currently stationed in Guam could be reinstated to his post.
Navy Captain Brett Crozier was dismissed on April 2 after he went out of his normal line of communication to directly address Navy leaders about his concern over coronavirus cases on board the ship, pleading with officials that the crew be able to disembark and warning that sailors would die if they were forced to remain on board.
His concerns rang true on Monday when a USS Theodore Roosevelt sailor died from coronavirus and the number of cases from the ship skyrocketed to 615.
Capt Crozier’s dismissal was condemned by sailors on the ship who cheered and clapped as he left for the final time but he may yet be reinstated, according to Esper and Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michael Gilday, who would have the final say.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper indicated Thursday that it’s possible Navy Capt. Brett Crozier would be reinstated following his controversial April 2 dismissal after he sent a letter to nNavy leaders pleading with them to disembark the USS Theodore Roosevelt
The ship was thrust into the international spotlight when its captain Brett Crozier (pictured) was relieved of his command by the Navy on April 2 after he sounded the alarm over the outbreak on board his ship. The navy may now reinstate him after an investigation
An investigation headed up by Esper was completed last week and is now making its way through the Navy’s chain of command before a decision is made.
‘It will come to me at some point in time. As I’m in the chain of command, I can’t comment on that further, but I got to keep an open mind with regard to everything,’ Esper told NBC News.
Esper was pushed on whether the decision to reinstate Capt. Crozier would mean that his firing was wrong in the first place but he refused to comment. The captain had been fired by Acting Navy Secretary Thomas B. Modly.
‘We’ve got to take this one step at a time, let the investigation within the navy conclude itself … and we’ll make very reasoned opinions and judgement as this progresses,’ he responded.
He added that the Navy was working to return all sailors to health and that the majority of them were asymptomatic.
‘The important thing now is out sailors upon that ship and getting them back to sea and what we found, of the 600 or so infected, what’s disconcerting is the majority of those, 350 plus are asymptomatic,’ he said.
The ship was thrust into the international spotlight when its captain Brett Crozier (pictured) was relieved of his command by the Navy on April 2 after he sounded the alarm over the outbreak on board his ship. The navy may now reinstate him after an investigation
Crozier was controversially fired by acting Navy secretary Thomas B. Modly (pictured) after the email leaked. Modly, meanwhile, has resigned after receiving blowback about his actions
The USS Roosevelt is docked in Guam. 615 crew members have tested positive to COVID-19, four of whom are currently in hospital. On Monday, the Roosevelt suffered its first coronavirus fatality, when an unidentified sailor died from the virus and a second is in intensive care
‘It has revealed a new dynamic of this virus that it can be carried by normal healthy people so we’ve learnt a lesson there, we communicate that to our broader force and we do everything we can to keep our force healthy and ready.’
His comments came after the New York Times reported that Adm. Michael M. Gilday, the chief of naval operations who would have the final say, has indicated that he may reinstate Captain Crozier.
‘I am taking no options off the table as I review that investigation,’ he told reporters.
‘I think that is my responsibility.’
He had previously warned Acting Secretary Modley not to fire Crozier.
‘No final decisions have been made,’ Cmdr. Nate Christensen, a spokesman for the admiral, said.
Although the Navy’s decision would lie with Adm. Gilday, a move to reinstate the captain could be upended by President Donald Trump, who has already expressed his disapproval at Crozier’s actions.
The president has become involved in naval disputes before.
Five months ago, Trump fired Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer after he opposed the president’s intervention in support of a member of the Navy SEALs.
The Navy SEAL was accused of murdering a wounded captive with a hunting knife during a deployment to Iraq in 2017.
The Navy has insisted, however, that it will base its decision on the findings of Esper’s investigation
Adm. Gilday will consult with the new acting Navy secretary, James E. McPherson, as well as with Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper and General Milley.
They will look into the days leading up to Crozier’s letter to determine whether there was a failure to respond to the crisis from the captain’s direct superiors that prompted his actions.
According to the New York Times, the crew are hoping that Capt. Crozier will return.
On Tuesday, a second sailor from the USS Theodore Roosevelt was rushed to the intensive care unit suffering complications from COVID-19.
The Navy confirmed that the sailor – who has not been publicly named – was admitted to the ICU at Naval Hospital Guam due to a shortness of breath.
The announcement came just one day after another sailor, who was taken to the ICU over the weekend, died from the contagious virus.
A second sailor from the USS Theodore Roosevelt has been rushed to the intensive care unit at Naval Hospital Guam (pictured) suffering complications from COVID-19
Despite his dismissal, Capt. Crozier won the battle to have the crew tested
Three other USS Roosevelt crew members who are suffering from the coronavirus are also in hospital but remain on general wards.
Nearly 80 percent of the ship’s crew of 4,000 have been evacuated from the ship.
There have been 615 positive cases on board the air carrier since initial cases were confirmed on March 24.
It’s believed sailors originally picked up the virus during a port call in Da Nang, Vietnam on March 5.
The ship was thrust into the international spotlight when its captain, Brett Crozier, was relieved of his command by the Navy on April 2 after he sounded the alarm over the outbreak on board his ship.
After four consecutive days of rebuttals from his superiors, on March 30, Crozier took matters into his own hands and composed an unclassified email to 20 Navy personnel in the Pacific, disclosing the desperate situation on board and asking for their help.
Insisting in the message that ‘Sailors don’t need to die’, friends of Crozier told the New York Times the 30-year veteran would have known sending the email would likely end his career, but he persevered regardless.
Crozier was controversially fired by acting Navy secretary Thomas B. Modly after the email leaked.
Modly addressed the crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt after the dismissal, calling his actions a ‘betrayal of trust’.
‘If he didn’t think, in my opinion, that this information wasn’t going to get out into the public, in this day and information age that we live in, then he was either, A, too naive or too stupid to be a commanding officer of a ship like this,’ Modly continued.
‘The alternative is that he did this on purpose.’
Modly, meanwhile, has resigned as acting secretary. According to officials, he decided to oust the captain because he thought it was what President Trump would want.
Despite firing Crozier for breaking the chain of command, the Navy conceded to his demands for mass testing and a wide scale evacuation of the ship.
Meanwhile, more than 4,000 sailors from the vessel have been moved ashore and are quarantining at 10 different hotels on the island.
Some locals in Guam have become worried that their presence in the hotels could cause a massive outbreak in the area.
Not including the sailors, Guam has 133 confirmed coronavirus cases and five deaths as of Thursday.