Outrageous decision to sack the CO of USS Theodore Roosevelt

The sacking of Captain Brett Crozier, commanding officer of the US Navy Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt is a sorry tale of the big chiefs back home failing to defend a man in charge out on the frontline. I don't know the full story. In particular, I don't know if Captain Crozier had sent a number of signals, emails and texts to his bosses in Pacific Command and to the Pentagon in Washington before he wrote his letter demanding to be heard. I'm assuming he did, so there must be lots of evidence that he had tried to warn his superiors that he was facing a rising crisis with the spread of coronavirus on his ship. The skipper who was clearly very popular with his crew judging by the send-off he received when he left his ship for further dressing-down back in Washington, had the lives of 4,800 sailors and airmen in his hand as well as the onerous responsibility of operating in a part of the world where almost anything can happen to keep them all fully alert. When the first eight sailors fell ill with the virus and were evacuated, Crozier had an immediate problem. Those sailors had mingled with others who had mingled with others who had minged with others. Potentially all of the 4,800 crew could be infected because they work, eat and sleep in such close proximity. Somehow he had to deal with the unprecedented sickness danger at the same time as remaining operational. Many of the crew had taken part in a port visit in the region two weeks before and probably picked up the virus at that time. So, again, potentially every single crew member who went ashore was infected and then brought the virus back on board when they returned to the ship. What a nightmare. Crozier MUST have warned his bosses about the problem and must have said he needed to get to a port as quickly as possible to get the crew checked out. All the crew. Back at the Pentagon officials were just saying that every step would be taken to check on the rest of the crew. But that has to be fluff! The only way to check everyone was to get everyone bar those who needed to keep the ship's nuclear reactors and weapons systems safe, off the carrier and get tested. But that meant admitting one of America's most symbolic power-projection platforms was no longer capable of carrying out its role and duty. So what comes first, the health and safety of the crew or the visible presence of the carrier and its strike group ploughing through the Pacific Ocean. I don't know what conversations went on back in the Pentagon. What I do know is that the commanding officer of an aircraft carrier who decides that the only option he has is to write a letter pleading for his crew and sending copies to a lot of people back in Washington to get their attention is a man who had reached a stage of desperation. The letter was forceful, literally reminding the bosses that the US was not in a state of war and therefore the lives of his crew should not be put at risk. Wow! That sentence alone would have got up the noses of the top people back home. The letter, of course, was leaked. To Captain Crozier's home town newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle. Whether he leaked it himself or one of the 30 odd people he sent the letter to, I don't know. But the Navy chiefs in the Pentagon clearly thought it was him. So he was fired, despite the fact that earlier officials had said it was perfectly fine for a commanding officer to raise concerns up the chain of command. But obviously it was the wording in the letter and the leaking that wasn't perfectly fine. Sacking the commanding officer of an aircraft carrier in the middle of an operational tour is a huge step at any time but to do so when he was clearly fighting for the men and women under his command, that in my view is outrageous. Think of the damage it will do for the morale of the crew. A bad bad decision.