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

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.

The controversy likely isn't going anywhere, especially after his profanity-laced comments surfaced. Referring to Crozier's memo, Modly said "if he didn't think, in my opinion, that this information wasn't going to get out into the public, in this information age we live in, then he was either too naive or too stupid to be a commanding officer of a ship like this." The alternative, he argued, is that Crozier intentionally leaked the memo "which is a serious violation."

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It's not clear what the crew thinks about the address, but their past reactions would suggest they at least didn't take too kindly to Modly's insults. When Crozier disembarked last week, he did so to thunderous applause.