Acting Navy secretary hurls insults at ousted captain who sounded coronavirus alarm while addressing his crew

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly doubled down on his decision to remove Capt. Brett Crozier from command of the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt when he addressed the aircraft carrier's crew Monday, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The Journal obtained a recording of the address, which took place in Guam where the ship is docked while crew members undergo quarantine. More than 150 of the approximately 5,000 crew members have tested positive for the novel COVID-19 coronavirus, which prompted Crozier — who reportedly tested positive himself — to write a memo to Navy higher-ups last week demanding urgent action. After that leaked to the press, Modly dismissed Crozier to much criticism.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.