Navy expected to relieve captain who raised alarm about COVID-19 outbreak on aircraft carrier

One irony, the same ones here condemning the ship captain for whistle blowing are the same people that condemned China for arresting their Covid-19 whistle blowing doctor.

 

No, China’s different.(snicker)

 

from the article

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/milita...tain-who-raised-alarm-about-covid-19-n1175351

"Crozier raised the alarm this week, sending a strongly worded letter to Navy leadership that detailed his concerns about the spread of the virus on the ship. The letter leaked to the media and generated a series of headlines."

he reported it to the Navy leadership and someone leaked it, who leaked it?

 

“Loose lips sink ships”
Never heard that phrase before?

 

Sure. And do you recall what China was charging the Doctor with?

 

The Navy has got to relieve him of command since he so massively broke the chain of command and several other key restrictions having to do rules and regulations. We can respect the individual for his integrity but still accept that he broke the rules he was legally bound to obey.

 

kinda like Trump when he broke the rules... oh wait

 

You meant Obama when he politically weaponized the IRS and then later the FBI?

 

To what go after his own party? Stick to the topic at hand..gdanm thats a reach.

Not only that If Obama was in charge this whole thing would been solved like every other outbreak thats happened throughout the world we have weathered...This one ONLY came to a head over here, because of lack of leadership.

See, we can make up BS too..dont go there.

 

You mean the sycophant media would have said, "Virus? What virus? It's no more dangerous than any other form of influenza." The nation's MSM fanatically spun and covered for Obama no matter what; and it's the exact same MSM that fanatically attack Trump . . . no . . . matter . . . what. Now you know why intelligent people call the MSM fake news.

 

If they said that..it should still cause you to avoid crowded areas..Influenza is no freaken joke either. Im immune to both..but those who arnt dont need me haphazardly shaking peoples hands hugging them, and sneezing all inside of nursing homes till they find a vaccine do they?
And I dont think the media covered for him at all..Look at all the crap some media told you to dislike him for.

The difference was Trump told people to act like you do, Obama would have handled it like he handled it when he had to. But thats nether here nor there. The captain was a good guy..He is relived possibly for breaking chain of command..possibly, but Im more suspect it was because he made Trump look bad, and I also suspect others may have knew crap, but avoided whistle blowing to saves their own butts. Good leadership shouldn't threaten the talent with firings.

 

This captain is a hero. He trashed his career to save his crew. Good on him.

 

He sent it through unclassified channels. The Fleet Admiral would also be have his flag on that ship and his immediate boss.

As the WSJ notes and I have previously noted

"Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said Thursday that he’d relieved Capt. Crozier for showing “extremely poor judgment.” Mr. Modly said the captain sent his letter to 20 or 30 people over an unclassified channel and was operating outside normal procedures in the chain of command. These are serious, fireable offenses, and Capt. Crozier could have offered his resignation instead if he felt he’d exhausted his ability to care properly for his sailors.


More substantively, adversaries are now aware that a U.S. aircraft carrier is said to be in rough shape in the South Pacific. China and Russia would be delighted to exploit American weakness amid a pandemic. Capt. Crozier’s letter said the U.S. is not at war but that doesn’t mean it isn’t under threat.

Then again, there are questions. What would motivate a captain with more than 25 years in the Navy to torch his own career? Anyone who reaches such a prestigious position in the Navy tends to be a company man. Mr. Modly says that none of the more than 100 people on the ship who have tested positive have been hospitalized, and that his office had already been working with Capt. Crozier."
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-navy-captain-and-the-coronavirus-11585955473?mod=opinion_lead_pos2

 

And the rest of the story is that SecNav (Acting) Modly said Crozier had cc’ed more than 20 people, including some outside the chain of command, over unsecured and unclassified systems, assuring the memo’s leak.

He also said Crozier did not speak to his direct superior, carrier strike group commander Rear Adm. Stuart Baker, about his concerns before sending the memo, despite Baker being on the carrier and living within feet of Crozier.

Modly said Crozier was not fired for expressing concerns, but the way he chose to do so. Bitching is not uncommon in any branch of the military, but if you break the rules expect unfavorable consequences.

 

The brass had no choice but to relieve him of his command and he had to know that would happen but he did it anyway...because of his devotion to his men

When he left the ship they cheered him and chanted his name

 

I'm pretty sure you have the details wrong.

Most are saying that Crozier went through the chain noting he had 100 guys testing positive. The chain was unresponsive, and soon thereafter Crozier himself sent his letter to his hometown newspaper who published it.

Crozier did the right thing trying to keep his crew safe and his boat from being rendered unable to perform because of sick sailors.

Crozier is the hero in this case, the man with a conscience who did the right thing in so many ways.

If DJT allows the current situation to stand, his status as a complete moral midget will be solidly confirmed.

 

And when a commanders "devotion to his men" takes precedent over national security and the mission they get relieved.

 

Crozier clearly knows right from wrong, but it appears you do not.

How would national security be effected with that ship at sea with half or more of its crew "unfit for duty" because of a public health issue?

 

Yea... screw the men right?

national security? Are we at War?

Jesus

 

Sorry, the guy was an idiot and deserved to get sacked.

The key things people are missing is the timeline. By the time the Captain started making an ass of himself, the ship had already been in port for 4 days, and the Navy and officials at Naval Base Guam were working as hard as they could to take everybody off. But the problem was, where do they put everybody?

It's not like there are tons of empty barracks sitting around on a Navy base. The last time Guam had the kind of excess barracks for handling large numbers of sailors was before 1997 when they closed the nearby Ship Repair Facility. Since then, like all bases in the military they had enough barracks for their own people, and that is about all. Certainly not enough to double the size of the base.

They had to arrange some kind of housing for them, a way to feed them, a way to get them all screened for the virus, and set up isolation facilities and everything from laundry to medical clinics. And at the same time keeping their own personnel safe so this would not spread even more.

Yes, it could have been done much faster. If the Navy wanted to simply take everybody off of the ships and put them up in tents, gyms, and anyplace else they had room to house them in. And in perfect conditions to spread this disease even faster.

This is what amazes me in this discussion. People are so busy pointing fingers, none of them are asking the simple question of "What should the Navy have done instead?" You had a Captain screaming things were not done fast enough, and I am sure the officials at the Guam Navy Base were working as hard and fast as they could to come up with solutions. And instead of being grateful that this entire base was working their butts off to do all they could, this moron jumps up and down and screams that things are not going fast enough.

I defy anybody to tell me what US military base anywhere in the world other than the home port of a Carrier has the kind of excess barracks sitting around to house over 5,000 people on short notice. Or hell, to even house that many with 2-6 months warning. That is a small base, and the complement of the Teddy R. is about the same as the entire base complement. A decade ago when they moved the 1st Armored Division from Germany back to the US, it took 10 years and over $5 billion dollars to build enough barracks and other facilities to house them all.

Evacuating an entire ship and finding them a bed and roof is not an easy thing to do, especially if it is a Nimitz class carrier with over 5,000 people on board. And that is even at the best of times, without the worry of a pandemic. And trying to maintain quarantine so that none on the shore are infected.

 

OK, how about this. We take all of the Sailors off as fast as possible.

Where do they sleep? This is not San Diego, they have no barracks to stay in there. So what do we do? Throw down cots in the gyms, offices, and everywhere else they can stuff them? Pull out the stocks of tents they have and put them in tents all over the place? Without showers and proper sanitation?

I have been involved in the planning of relocating Battalions, and that is less than 1/5 the size of the crew of this ship. And it takes weeks of preparation to line everything up, from feeding them and portable toilets to shower facilities and aid stations. And that is doing it in tents, a guaranteed way in this instance to make sure that a huge number become infected.

Yes, the military does have plans and procedures in place for emergency sheltering of people, both military and civilian. But that is for a natural disaster, not a pandemic. The normal procedures are then the worst possible thing you can do, so they all have to be scrapped and new ones made.

Of course, this was also the kind of thing many of us talked about in the 1990's when they went through the military with a chainsaw, closing bases left and right and ordering the destruction of things that were seen as being "excess". Facilities like the Guam Naval Repair Facility. Which was designed to repair ships, with the entire complement housed in barracks. But that was closed 23 years ago, and all the barracks destroyed. There was simply no need on Guam to ever have that kind of standby housing. And I can guarantee that if the Navy had decided to do it people would have screamed it was a waste of money, and the "MIC getting rich off the taxpayers".

 

I meant taking a carrier out of sction is not something to broadcast to our enemies. The cap"n screwed up.So he lost his command.

 

Cruise ships.

Perfect example. How many people died on the Diamond Princess? Zero.

Those that ultimately passed away were evacuated to a hospital on shore. 70 in total evacuated, the remaining 3,700 stayed aboard for two weeks.

Of the total aboard the Diamond Princess, 3,800 +/-, only 700 became infected with the vast majority asymptomatic or with mild cases.

Cruise ship passenger manifests skew older. I doubt any of the guests aboard could have passed the physical for naval sea duty or met the age requirement.

Half?

Come on, be honest with the numbers.

20 and 30 year olds without comorbidities are little effected.
Using numbers representative of entire populations, 40+% of those infected would be asymptomatic, 40+% more would have mild symptoms. If we adjust for age and health, this group would show little negative affect. A few might become severe. Evacuate them or treat them onboard.

This Ship has an 80+ bed hospital ward. Has at least 5 MDs, a few surgeons, hundreds of corpsmen / RNs. Operating room, ICU etc.

How exactly, mid cruise, did the crew become infected? Port call? In Asia? Really?