令人惊讶的是，海军已经决定不要恢复西奥多·罗斯福号航空母舰的船长职务，并且由于他们对这部小说的处理，停止了海军少将在他的直接指挥系统中的晋升冠状病毒航空母舰上爆发。
船上的疫情靠边站的罗斯福在关岛呆了两个多月，留下了船上5000名水手中的四分之一感染了病毒包括一名死者。
海军作战部部长麦克·吉尔代上将周五宣布布雷特·克罗泽上尉将不会恢复指挥权，同时也是罗斯福号航母战斗群指挥官的少将·斯图亚特·贝克晋升为二星级上将一事将被搁置。
吉尔达在对病毒在船上传播的情况和指挥系统的反应进行了更广泛的调查后，决定采取行动。
支持解雇克罗泽的决定是对吉尔代早些时候在4月底提出的采取前所未有的措施恢复他的指挥权的戏剧性逆转。
在周五的五角大楼新闻发布会上，吉尔代解释说，在病毒在船上传播时，一项广泛的调查暴露了他的决定的缺点，他已经改变了他对恢复克罗泽的看法。
2019年12月15日，西奥多·罗斯福号航空母舰(CVN 71号)的指挥官布雷特·克罗泽上尉在驾驶舱全体人员的呼叫中发表讲话。
吉尔代在五角大楼的新闻发布会上告诉记者，“我认为贝克上将和克罗泽上尉都没有达到我们对指挥官的期望。”。“如果我当时知道我今天所知道的，我就不会提出让克罗泽上尉复职的建议。如果克罗泽上尉今天还在指挥，我会解除他的职务。”
“他们没有足够快地完成他们的主要义务，”吉尔代说。"他们没有有效地执行我们的指导方针来防止病毒的传播."
吉尔代说，在航母抵达关岛预定停靠港后，他们在让船员下船和进入更安全的环境方面都进展缓慢。
海军最高上将称，克罗泽做出了令人质疑的判断，将一些船员从船上隔离，这可能增加了病毒在航母上的传播。
2020年5月21日，西曼·卡梅伦·戴维斯驾驶西奥多·罗斯福号航空母舰(CVN 71号)在菲律宾海航行，此前他在COVID-19全球大流行期间对关岛进行了一次长期访问。
吉尔代说:“当障碍出现时，双方都没有正面解决问题，也没有负起责任，在许多情况下，他们把船员的舒适放在船员安全的前面。”。
克罗泽在三月被解除了指挥权，就在航母到达关岛后不久冠状病毒在船上被发现。克罗泽写了一封信，随后又发了一封信——据称是围绕着他的指挥系统——请求更多的海军援助，以阻止他的船上爆发疫情。
这封信最终被一家报纸泄露并发表了。由此引发的争议导致了一系列事件，导致克罗泽被代理海军部长托马斯·莫德利解雇。莫德里几天后辞职在他之后发表了轻蔑的言论关于克罗泽，船上的船员称他“太愚蠢或太天真”，认为这封信不会公开。
4月下旬，在收到对该事件的初步审查结果后，吉尔代建议恢复克罗泽对其船只的指挥权。但是国防部长马克·埃斯珀要求海军进行一次更广泛的审查，不仅要看克罗泽为什么选择写这封信，还要看指挥系统对船上COVID-19爆发做出的反应和决定。
吉尔代周五解释说，他最初建议让克罗泽复职是基于一项审查，该审查只考虑了信件发出的原因。
他说，斯珀要求的更广泛的审查强调了克罗泽和贝克的行动，导致他得出不同的结论。
五角大楼首席发言人乔纳森·拉斯·霍夫曼说:“斯珀部长认为调查是彻底和公正的，并支持海军基于调查结果做出的决定。”。“我们为西奥多·罗斯福号航空母舰的全体船员感到骄傲，并为他们重返西太平洋，展示美国的力量而感到高兴。”
克罗泽在信中要求10%的船员留在航空母舰上执行必要的服务，并要求大多数船员在关岛接受检疫。最终，这些拟议的步骤与海军的做法相似，因为该船在关岛停留了10个星期，当时该船已被消毒，船员已被隔离并从病毒中康复。
尽管做出了这些努力，船上4865名船员中仍有1273名感染了病毒，相当于全体船员的26%，其中包括一名死于病毒并发症的船员。
在罗斯福号和导弹驱逐舰基德号上爆发疫情后，海军实施了新的健康和安全程序，以防止目前在海上的90艘海军船只爆发疫情。
2020年5月21日，西奥多·罗斯福号航空母舰(CVN 71号)在菲律宾海作业，此前在COVID-19全球大流行期间对关岛进行了长时间访问。
这包括定期测试、戴口罩和社交距离，所有海军单位都有这种做法，但主要关注的是海上船只，在这些船只上，近距离接触会加速病毒在船员中的传播。
在海军舰艇出发进行部署之前，船员要接受测试和隔离，这样就不会有人把病毒带到船上。为了确保船只保持“无COVID泡沫”，海军正在制定新的规则，规定船只可以停靠的港口。
美国海军将只允许在世界各地选定数量的海军基地停靠港口，作为“安全港”
该航母于6月初离开关岛，恢复其在西太平洋的部署，但仍不清楚该舰最终何时会返回其母港圣地亚哥。
周四，该船的两名飞行员在F/A-18F战斗机在菲律宾海坠毁后安全跳伞。
海军现在认为，病毒确实是在越南的一个停靠港之后登上船只的，而不是像人们认为的那样通过登上船只的机组人员传播的。
吉尔代星期五说，随后对这些机组人员的测试没有显示他们感染了病毒。
在船上首次检测到COVID后，最初的怀疑指向越南的停靠港可能是病毒的来源，批评者质疑为什么海军决定继续在岘港停留，因为病毒已在该国其他地方被检测到。
但是吉尔代说，他没有发现菲尔·戴维森上将决定继续在越南停靠港口的错误。
“风险得到了充分的考虑和缓解，”吉尔代说。
Navy upholds firing of carrier captain and holds up promotion of admiral because of handling of virus outbreak on ship
In a surprising reversal, the Navyhas decidednot to reinstate the captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt and has halted the promotion of the rear admiral in his direct chain of command because of their handling of the novelcoronavirusoutbreak aboard the aircraft carrier.
The outbreak aboard the shipsidelined the Rooseveltin Guam for more than two months and left a quarter of the 5,000 sailors aboardinfected with the virus, including one who died.
Adm. Mike Gilday, the chief of naval operations, announced Friday that Capt. Brett Crozier will not be reinstated to his command and that the promotion of Rear Adm. Stuart Baker, the carrier's strike group commander who also served on the Roosevelt, to become two-star admiral would be placed on hold.
Gilday decided on the actions after reviewing a broader investigation into the circumstances of the virus' spread aboard the ship and the chain of command's response.
The decision to uphold Crozier's firing is a dramatic reversal from Gilday's earlier recommendation in late April to take the unprecedented step of reinstating him to his command.
At a Pentagon news conference on Friday, Gilday explained that he had changed his opinion about reinstating Crozier after a broad investigation brought to light shortcomings about his decisions as the virus spread on the ship.
Capt. Brett Crozier, commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), gives remarks during an all-hands call on the flight deck, Dec. 15, 2019.
"It is my belief that both Adm. Baker and Capt. Crozier fell well short of what we expect of those in command," Gilday told reporters at a Pentagon news conference. "Had I known then what I know today, I would have not made that recommendation to reinstate Capt. Crozier. If Capt. Crozier were still in command today, I would be relieving him."
"They did not do enough soon enough to fulfill their primary obligation," said Gilday. "And they did not effectively carry out our guidelines to prevent spread of the virus."
Gilday said they were both slow in getting the sailors off of the ship and into safer environments after the carrier arrived in Guam for a scheduled port of call.
The Navy's top admiral said Crozier had exercised questionable judgment in releasing some sailors from quarantine on the ship which may have increased the spread of the virus aboard the carrier.
Seaman Cameron Davis mans the helm of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) as the ship operates in the Philippine Sea, May 21, 2020, following an extended visit to Guam in...more
Seaman Cameron Davis mans the helm of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) as the ship operates in the Philippine Sea, May 21, 2020, following an extended visit to Guam in the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic.
"When obstacles arose, both failed to tackle the problem head on and to take charge, and in a number of instances they placed crew comfort in front of crew safety," said Gilday.
Crozier was relieved of command in March shortly after the carrier had arrived in Guam after the first cases of thecoronaviruswere discovered aboard the ship. Crozier wrote and then sent a letter -- allegedly around his chain of command -- asking for more Navy assistance to stem an outbreak on his ship.
The letter was eventually leaked and published by a newspaper. The resulting controversy led to a series of events that resulted in Crozier's firing by Thomas Modly, the acting secretary of the Navy. Modlyresigned days later, after hemade disparaging remarksabout Crozier to the ship's crew, labeling him as "too stupid or too naive" to think that the letter would not have become public.
In late April, after receiving the results of an initial review into the matter, Gilday recommended reinstating Crozier to command of his ship. But Defense Secretary Mark Esper requested that the Navy undertake a broader review that would look at not just why Crozier had chosen to write the letter, but also look at the actions and decisions made by the chain of command in response to the COVID-19 outbreak aboard the ship.
Gilday explained Friday that he based his initial recommendation to reinstate Crozier on a review that only looked at the circumstances of why the letter was sent.
He said the broader review requested by Esper highlighted actions by both Crozier and Baker that led him to conclude differently.
"Secretary Esper believes the investigation to have been thorough and fair and supports the Navy’s decisions based on their findings," said Jonathan Rath Hoffman, the Pentagon's chief spokesperson. "We are proud of the crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt and am glad that they are back at sea in the western Pacific projecting American power.”
In his letter, Crozier had requested that 10% of the crew remain aboard the carrier to carry out essential services and that the majority should be placed in quarantine on Guam. In the end those proposed steps were similar to what the Navy carried out as the ship remained in Guam for 10 weeks while the ship was disinfected and the ship's crew was quarantined and recovered from the virus.
Despite those efforts, 1,273 sailors among the 4,865 aboard contracted the virus, equal to 26% of the crew, including the one who died from complications from the virus.
In the wake of the outbreaks aboard the Roosevelt and the USS Kidd, a guided-missile destroyer, the Navy implemented new health and safety procedures to prevent outbreaks among the 90 Navy ships currently at sea.
The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) operates in the Philippine Sea, May 21, 2020, following an extended visit to Guam in the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic.
That includes regular testing, the wearing of masks and social distancing are practiced in all Navy units, but a main focus is on ships at sea where close quarters can facilitate a quick spread of the virus among the crew.
Before Navy ships head out on a deployment, crews are tested and quarantined so that no one will bring the virus aboard a ship. To ensure that the ships remain a "COVID-free bubble," the Navy is now developing new rules for where its ships can make ports of call.
The Navy will only allow ports of call at a select number of Navy bases around the world that will serve as "safe havens."
The carrier left Guam in early June to resume its deployment to the western Pacific, though it remains unclear when the ship will eventually return to its homeport of San Diego.
On Thursday, two of the ship's aviators ejected safely from their F/A-18F fighter after it crashed in the Philippine Sea.
The Navy now believes the virus did come aboard the ship following a port of call in Vietnam and not through air crews that arrived on the ship as was believed.
Gilday said Friday that subsequent testing of those air crews did not show they had been infected with the virus.
After the first COVID inspections were detected aboard the ship and initial suspicions pointed to the port of call in Vietnam as a possible source of the virus, critics questioned why the Navy had decided to continue with the stop in Da Nang as the virus had been detected in other parts of the country.
But Gilday said he had not found fault with the decision by Adm. Phil Davidson to proceed with the port of call in Vietnam.
"Risk was adequately considered and mitigated," said Gilday.
