US Navy Captain receives a hero's farewell after being fired for Coronavirus letter

• With more than 100 coronavirus infected sailors among the crew of 4000 on board at the Theodore Roosevelt, Capt. Brett Crozier, wrote a letter to US Navy officials.

The Captain of a nuclear aircraft carrier, Brett E. Crozier received a hero’s farewell from his crew after sacrificing his naval career for the safety of sailors from COVID-19.

With more than 100 coronavirus infected sailors among the crew of 4000 on board at the Theodore Roosevelt, Capt. Brett Crozier, wrote a letter to US Navy officials for resources to allow isolation of his entire crew and avoid possible deaths in a situation he described as quickly deteriorating.

For breaching formal chain of command, a Santa Rosa native was removed from the command which senior Navy officials described that they were protecting historic practice that complaints and requests have to go up a formal chain of command.

Hundreds of service members ignored social distancing protocol and packed the hangar deck of the Roosevelt to pay tribute to their erstwhile leader, a day after he was ousted by top Navy brass.

The farewell to the commander comes after Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly announced Thursday that Crozier would be relieved of command, though he will remain in the Navy.

On March 30, to draw attention about the prevailing situation at the carrier, he wrote a four-page letter to the higher command, which reads, “This will require a political solution but it is the right thing to do.”

“We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die. If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset — our Sailors.”

“Due to a warship’s inherent limitations of space, we are not doing this,” Crozier wrote. “The spread of the disease is ongoing and accelerating.”

He asked for “compliant quarantine rooms” on shore in Guam for his entire crew “as soon as possible.”