Captain Brett Crozier, former commanding officer of the USS Theodore Roosevelt

On 19 June 2020, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Gary Gilday announced he would not be reinstating Captain Brett Crozier as the commanding officer of the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71).

U.S. Navy (Alexander Williams)

COVID-19 and USS Theodore Roosevelt: The Chain of Command Did Not Work

By Harlan K. Ullman

June 2020

Proceedings

Firing on the Up Roll

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Now that the investigation into the decisions by Navy Captain Brett Crozier, the former commanding officer (CO) of the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) is complete and, for the moment, the case seems closed, two conclusions are striking. First, former Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly seems to have been right in relieving him. Second, the chain of command did not work. Had it, Crozier would still be in command, and former Vice Chief Admiral Robert Burke would not have had to lead an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the outbreak of COVID-19 on board the ship.

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Harlan K. Ullman

Dr. Harlan Ullman, a Senior Advisor at the Atlantic Council, served in combat in Vietnam and in command of a destroyer in the Persian Gulf. A Distinguished Senior Fellow and Visiting Professor at the U.S. Naval War College, his most recent book is Anatomy of Failure—-Why America Loses Every War It Starts. He is reachable at @harlankullman on Twitter.

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