SECNAV: Roosevelt skipper either ‘too naïve or too stupid’ to command aircraft carrier

[rangerrebew]

SECNAV: Roosevelt skipper either ‘too naïve or too stupid’ to command aircraft carrier
Diana Stancy Correll and J.D. Simkins
 

Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly issued a series of sharp comments Monday while speaking to Theodore Roosevelt sailors about their ship’s recently fired commanding officer, Capt. Brett Crozier.

Modly’s comments, which were delivered over the aircraft carrier’s 1MC, come in the wake of a leaked letter Crozier penned pleading for U.S. intervention to stifle a COVID-19 outbreak on the 4,800-person ship.

Cozier’s letter, which was first published by the San Francisco Chronicle, was reportedly sent up the captain’s immediate chain of command in a “non-secure, unclassified” email that included “20 or 30” additional recipients, acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly told reporters Thursday.

https://www.navytimes.com/news/coronavirus/2020/04/06/secnav-roosevelt-skipper-too-naive-or-too-stupid-to-command-or-sent-letter-on-purpose/

[rangerrebew]

SECNAV has shown his incompetence by making such a statement while an investigation is on going.  His judgment of the commanding officer's competence should be reserved for the inquiry, not the media.

[sneakypete]

SECNAV has shown his incompetence by making such a statement while an investigation is on going.  His judgment of the commanding officer's competence should be reserved for the inquiry, not the media.

@rangerrebew

Stated more plainly,he proved he is a clueless fool.

[dfwgator]

Modly will be gone by the end of the week.   

[Night Hides Not]

He just resigned.

I'm torn about the relieving of Crozier. One, a commander's first responsibility is to the mission of his command. In that regard, the apparent lack of response from higher HQ led to a degradation of his unit's mission.

The farthest I got in the Army was as a battery commander of 300 soldiers, a much smaller unit obviously. We had our mission to accomplish, and I needed every soldier to get it done. I had their backs, they had mine. I see a similar response from Crozier's servicemembers.

However, sending that email out to some 20 addressees was a stupid, certainly desperate act. He had to have known the blowback would be fierce. In the end, did his actions help or hinder his unit's mission? That remains to be seen.

So Crozier and Modly are both out of the picture now. More turnover in key positions, who will be next to go?

[mystery-ak]

However, sending that email out to some 20 addressees was a stupid, certainly desperate act. He had to have known the blowback would be fierce. In the end, did his actions help or hinder his unit's mission? That remains to be seen.

By sending that letter he let everyone know[enemy] his ship was in distress...by doing that he was relieved of command....not a wise move on his part.

[Neverdul]

[dfwgator]

“Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked, have been sacked.”

[Fishrrman]

Capt. Crozier did show a lapse of judgement by cc'ing too many others (perhaps any cc's at all?), and by sending by way of what looks to have been an unsecure means of communication (or so we've been told).

Having said that...
SOMEBODY on the cc list must have leaked his letter.
Who was it?

I don't think Crozier was out-of-bounds trying to convey the seriousness of his situation to the top level of his command. He slipped up in the execution, however.
(yes, I realize about that "chain of command" stuff...)

[sneakypete]

He just resigned.

I'm torn about the relieving of Crozier. One, a commander's first responsibility is to the mission of his command. In that regard, the apparent lack of response from higher HQ led to a degradation of his unit's mission.

The farthest I got in the Army was as a battery commander of 300 soldiers, a much smaller unit obviously. We had our mission to accomplish, and I needed every soldier to get it done. I had their backs, they had mine. I see a similar response from Crozier's servicemembers.

However, sending that email out to some 20 addressees was a stupid, certainly desperate act. He had to have known the blowback would be fierce. In the end, did his actions help or hinder his unit's mission? That remains to be seen.

So Crozier and Modly are both out of the picture now. More turnover in key positions, who will be next to go?

@Night Hides Not

In MY semi-mind,it was a noble act,akin to falling on his own sword. His ship was either combat-ineffective or close to it,and getting nothing but worse. I have no doubt he tried to tell his superiors his ship needed to be pulled off the line and replaced by one with a healthy crew,and was told to "drive on".

Nothing else makes sense. After all,the man was given command of a freaking aircraft carrier. These people aren't chosen casually.

IF my supposition is true,it seems to ME his only options were to keep sailing with a undermanned ship with unqualified people holding down key positions until they too fell sick because there was no one qualified to replace them.

That way you eventually end up with a carrier floating dead in the water,filled full of dead sailors. Gee,I wonder what a modern US carrier with a full mission load of weapons,communications technology,engineering technology,etc,etc,etc would be worth to the Chinese if they boarded it on the open sea and claimed salvage rights?

Looked at in this light,the loss of ONE man's career,even if it is YOURS,seems like  a small price to pay.

Make no mistake about it,though. The Admiral next up in his chain of command should be backed up against a wall and shot.

[sneakypete]

By sending that letter he let everyone know[enemy] his ship was in distress...by doing that he was relieved of command....not a wise move on his part.

@mystery-ak

This is NOT something a carrier commander will do if he has any other options. Period.

Ergo,he had no other options due to higher command ignoring his situation.

[sneakypete]

Capt. Crozier did show a lapse of judgement by cc'ing too many others (perhaps any cc's at all?), and by sending by way of what looks to have been an unsecure means of communication (or so we've been told).

Having said that...
SOMEBODY on the cc list must have leaked his letter.
Who was it?

I don't think Crozier was out-of-bounds trying to convey the seriousness of his situation to the top level of his command. He slipped up in the execution, however.
(yes, I realize about that "chain of command" stuff...)

@Fishrrman

I think it is highly likely he had no other options,and HE may have even been the one to tip off the media so the problem could be resolved before everyone on his ship died,and someone seized it on the open seas as an abandoned vessel.