On active duty I served close enough to my COs to know their responibilities. Served also on staffs of CINCPACFLT abd COMNAVAIRPAC. Was a commissioned officer. Retired as an O-6. I have first hand knowledge of mission readiness and processes to handle degraded mission capability. I also know intimately the concept of following the chain of command
Have intimate knowledge of order of battle. Served as a Reserve CO for units at both staffs I mentioned above.
Rather than assail my person do you have a rational rebuttal to to the points I made? The CO reduced our naval defense capabilities by nearly half on the front lines. He made that decision nearly unilaterally and announced it to the world. He probably would have survived had he not done the later. The letter is a dumb letter but could have been ascribed to the CO’s being an aviator.
I noticed he has aviation wings. In another post I speculated he might be an airdale. They have an occasional tendency to throw caution to the winds. That is often admirable. However as much emotional appeal his actions may have, he took a most important ship out of the order of battle for the Western Pacific and the Indian Ocean. The Russians, Chinese, North Koreans, and ME radicals know this. Sorry, but he could have done the humane thing without telling the world we have one less deployed battle group.
Incidentally, deployed Naval vessels especially carriers and subs function as if at war. That’s part of what makes our Navy so formidable.
Have you any experience in war planning or been involved in making decisions that impact readiness? If so I’ll respect your credentials and accept rational rebuttals.
Stating we are not at war doesn’t fly in the seventh fleet.
It might fly in the third fleet.
I know that from 1985 until I left active duty in 2009, Commissioned Ships of the US Navy were always in Condition III, wartime cruising, when they shifted colors.
The navy has invested a great deal in the training and preparation of its sailors. Should a Commanding Officer risk wasting those sailors because the political forces demand that they stay in position? How effective would that Carrier Battle Group be if critical specialties were too sick to work? Launch and recovery? Nuclear plant?
His higher ups should have swung into action and either evacuated all known and suspected Covid cases and replaced them - or sent the Roosevelt to Guam and disembarked/isolated the crew right away.
But they didn't. Instead they told the world in a press release that the Roosevelt was going to continue on its mission anyway.
At that point, Capt. Crozier was left with only two painful options: continue the mission and watch the casualties increase and make his ship not combat ready - or to do what he did to gain public attention and the wrath of the political navy> This forum is usually rabid about "Obama era" political commanders - but for some reason my conservatives have no sympathy at all for a commander who considers the welfare of his troops even above his own career.