US Navy fires captain of covid-stricken carrier for poor response to virus outbreak onboard

The US Navy has decided to fire Captain Brett Crozier of USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier, who warned about the spread of the coronavirus pandemic aboard his ship, due to his poor response to the novel coronavirus outbreak aboard the vessel, Chief of Naval Operations Michael Gilday said.

Crozier was relieved of command of the aircraft carrier on April 2 after making a public plea for help with an outbreak of novel coronavirus onboard the Theodore Roosevelt, Sputnik reported.

"I will not reassign Captain Brett Crozier as the commanding officer of the USS Theodore Roosevelt nor will he be eligible for future command," Gilday told reporters on Friday.

"Captain Crozier will be reassigned," he added.

Gilday said Crozier and his superior, Rear Adm. Stuart Baker, failed to act quickly and decisively exercising protocols that called for sailors to be moved to safer environments at the first opportunity.

The Chief of Naval Operations also said that Crozier exercised "questionable judgment" in releasing crew members from quarantine prematurely.

Gilday said that his earlier recommendation to reinstal Crozier was rushed and the findings in the report into the outbreak aboard the Theodore Roosevelt would warrant the firing of the ex-commanding officer then and now.

Crozier did not leak the memo written to ten Navy officers nor was there any desire to do so; he also admitted that an investigation into the outbreak aboard the Roosevelt would not have likely materialized without the memo, Gilday said.

Crozier is not the only party to face consequences for the largest novel coronavirus outbreak in the US military. Rear Adm. Stuart Baker, the head of the Theodore Roosevelt strike group, will have his promotion delayed pending further review. Administrative action will also be taken against ship's medical officer.

Navy Secretary Kenneth Braithwaite said that Defense Secretary Mark Esper has upheld the findings in the matter.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt became site of the largest novel coronavirus outbreak in the US military after a stop in Vietnam, a decision made in compliance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations and defended in the report.

In total, 955 crew members tested positive for the virus and Chief Petty Officer Charles Robert Thacker Jr. became the first US serviceman to succumb to the disease.

( With inputs from ANI )