By Daniel Wilson

Law360 (June 19, 2020, 3:29 PM EDT) -- U.S. Navy leaders said Friday they will not reinstate the former captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt after an internal investigation highlighted several mistakes he had made in handling a COVID-19 outbreak aboard the aircraft carrier.

A two-month investigation has revealed that Capt. Brett Crozier and his superior, Rear. Adm. Stuart Baker, hadn't met their command responsibilities in response to the Roosevelt outbreak, Navy Chief Adm. Michael M. Gilday said at a Pentagon press conference.

While Gilday acknowledged the "unprecedented nature" of the pandemic, he said that Crozier and Baker "did not do enough, soon enough to fulfill their primary obligation … the safety and well-being of the crew so that the ship remained as operationally ready as possible."

The Navy chief noted that he had been ready to reinstate Crozier after an initial investigation in April, but said the "much broader, deeper" subsequent investigation showed Crozier and Baker had fallen short of expectations for commanding officers.

They were slow in moving sailors off the ship when the virus first broke out and placed crew comfort in front of safety in some instances, such as by seeking hotel accommodation for quarantining rather than using on-base facilities, Gilday said. And Crozier "exercised questionable judgment" by releasing sailors from quarantine on the ship, Gilday said.

Also, leaked emails raising concerns about the Roosevelt's crew that had led to Crozier's initial relief from duty were "unnecessary," as actions were already underway to protect the crew, according to Gilday.

Crozier will be reassigned and will not be eligible for future command posts, while Baker — the officer in charge of the "strike group" that includes the Roosevelt — has had a pending promotion put on hold amid further review, Gilday said. Crozier will also face possible administrative sanctions from his fleet leader, according to the Navy's investigative documents.

Crozier was relieved of duty on April 2 after a letter he sent to Navy leaders was leaked to the media. The letter urged the evacuation of much of the Roosevelt's crew after roughly 100 sailors had tested positive for the coronavirus, saying the lives of the sailors left on board were at risk.

Nearly 1,300 sailors from the Roosevelt, or about a quarter of its crew, have since tested positive for the virus, according to the Navy, and it was docked in Guam for around two months, until early June, to disinfect the vessel and allow for crewmembers to be treated.

Then-acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said when removing Crozier that the captain, although apparently acting in what he thought was his crew's best interests — a view reiterated by Gilday in an endorsement document approving the report released Friday — had exercised poor judgment by sending his letter using unsecured email and outside his immediate chain of command.

Modly quickly resigned after his own comments from an April 5 visit to the Roosevelt were also publicly leaked. In a statement broadcast over the ship's PA system, Modly had said that if Crozier hadn't believed his letter would be made public, he was "too naive or too stupid to be a commanding officer of a ship like this."

Gilday said in his endorsement that Crozier had not delivered his email outside the chain of command nor intended to have it released to the media, but had sent the missive before ensuring he had all the relevant facts, including that hotels in Guam had already been made available to his crew for quarantining, and before using other avenues available to raise his concerns.

Neither Gilday nor the underlying report say how Crozier's email was leaked to the media.

Following an initial investigation by Gilday, the Navy chief briefed Defense Secretary Mark Esper on April 24. Gilday reportedly recommended Crozier be reinstated, but Esper delayed making a decision, announcing later that day he would "thoroughly review the report and will meet again with Navy leadership to discuss next steps."

Then-acting Navy Secretary James McPherson subsequently announced on April 29 that the Navy would conduct a more thorough probe into "the sequence of events, actions and decisions of the chain of command surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt," saying the initial probe had left him with unanswered questions.

Senior Democrats such as House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., had claimed that Crozier's removal was likely politically motivated, with Smith saying in April it was "because he dared to criticize the chain of command and therefore his removal was expected by the White House."

Smith did not revisit that claim in a statement released Friday, but said that the findings from the Navy's extended probe "[made] it clear that the Navy did not respond the way they should have, or as quickly as they should have, to adequately address the outbreak" aboard the Roosevelt.

That inadequate response included officials up and down the chain of command, including the Navy's civilian leadership, despite their attempts to portray Crozier's decision-making as the "critical weakness" in addressing the outbreak, according to Smith. His committee has launched its own probe to better understand those mistakes, he said.

"While the committee works on our own investigation, it is my hope that the Navy will learn from this series of mistakes," Smith said. "Modly's incredibly poor decision to relieve Captain Crozier because of an email was only made worse by his equally poor decision to visit the ship and berate the commander after he left. Modly's bad decision-making underscores the importance of sound civilian leadership at the Department."

--Editing by Jack Karp.

Update: This story has been updated to include further details on the investigative report and the circumstances that led to the investigation, and to include Smith's comments.

For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.