Acting U.S. Navy Secretary Thomas Modly issued an apology on Monday to the former commander of a coronavirus-stricken aircraft carrier after sharply criticizing him in a speech to his crew, just days after firing him.
“ I do not think Captain Brett Crozier is naive nor stupid ,” Mr. Modly said amid calls for his removal, including from the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, a Democrat.
The apology, which Modly also extended to the carrier's crew and Crozier's family, was a reversal from a statement the Navy's top civilian issued hours earlier that said: “I stand by every word I said.”
