The U.S. Navy has announced it is widening the investigation into the removal of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt’s captain.
The Navy will expand the investigation to look at the service’s overall command climate in the Pacific.
Capt. Brett Crozier was relieved of command after a memo, in which he pleaded with Navy leadership to provide more resources to the COVID-19 stricken ship, leaked to the media. An initial enquiry recommended reinstating Crozier as commander of the ship.
That report was scheduled to be released April 24.
“After carefully reviewing the preliminary inquiry into the events surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), the Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Mike Gilday, provided me with his recommendations. Following our discussion, I have unanswered questions that the preliminary inquiry has identified and that can only be answered by a deeper review,” Acting Secretary of the Navy James McPherson said in a statement provided to USNI News.
“Therefore, I am directing Admiral Gilday to conduct a follow-on command investigation. This investigation will build on the good work of the initial inquiry to provide a more fulsome understanding of the sequence of events, actions, and decisions of the chain of command surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt.”
Gilday and McPherson briefed Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley on the initial report early last week, and then briefed Esper on April 24. Milley had questions on the leadership climate in the Pacific and pushed Esper to open a broader investigation into leadership of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Based on that recommendation, Esper delayed release of the initial report.
The widened probe would be “to ensure that the inquiry was as thorough as it needs to be to answer any questions the secretary may have had before finalizing the report,” a senior defense official told Politico.
On April 29, the Navy reported it is beginning to return sailors to the USS Theodore Roosevelt after reporting 940 cases of the virus and the death of one sailor.