The Navy Fired Him. His Crew Just Showed How They Feel

The captain of a Navy aircraft carrier fired Thursday after asking superiors to let him evacuate crew members sick from the coronavirus received a heartfelt goodbye from the sailors in his charge. Per USA Today, videos on social media showed rousing shows of support Friday aboard the USS Roosevelt, now docked in Guam, in a send-off for Capt. Brett Crozier. "Now that's how you send out one of the greatest captains you ever had!" one man in a clip shown on Facebook proclaimed. The man in the video added, "The GOAT [Greatest Of All Time], the man for the people." In another video, along with the caption "So long to our hero Captain Crozier," a man (apparently Crozier) strolls down the ship's gangway and to a waiting car, to cheers, applause, and chants of "Captain Crozier! Captain Crozier!"

Crozier was relieved of his command after sending an urgent memo on Sunday to the Navy, asking to get sick crew members off the ship and into isolation. The letter ended up getting leaked to the San Francisco Chronicle, which published it. Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly says Crozier was let go because he sent the letter via "non-secure unclassified email" to a "broad array of people." Modly added that Crozier showed "extremely poor judgment" and incited "panic" on the ship. In a statement to NBC News, sailors from the ship said, "Modly has broken faith with the crew" and that "there was nothing alarming or sensationalist in Capt. Crozier's letter. It was simply a recitation of the bleak facts facing this warship. Capt. Crozier has the full faith and confidence of this crew, who would sail with him again at a moment's notice." (More coronavirus stories.)