The US Navy on Thursday relieved the commander of the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, who wrote a scathing letter that leaked to the public asking the Navy for stronger measures to control a coronavirus outbreak on board the ship. The removal of Captain Brett Crozier from the command of the 5,000-person vessel was announced by acting US Navy Secretary Thomas Modly, who said the commander exercised poor judgement. Modly said the letter was sent through the chain of command but Crozier did not safeguard it from being released outside the chain. “It raised alarm bells unnecessarily,” Modly said. Over 100 personnel on the ship have tested positive for the coronavirus so far. In the four-page letter, Crozier described a bleak situation aboard the nuclear-powered carrier as more sailors tested positive for the highly contagious respiratory virus. He called for “decisive action”: removing over 4,000 sailors from the ship and isolating them. He said that unless the Navy acted immediately, it would be failing to properly safeguard “our most trusted asset – our sailors”. Pentagon seeking 100,000 body bags for civilian use in virus crisis The letter put the Pentagon on the defensive about whether it was doing enough to keep the warship’s crew members safe, and alarmed the families of those aboard the vessel, whose home port is in San Diego. The carrier was in the Pacific when the Navy reported its first coronavirus case a week ago. It has since docked at US Naval Base Guam on the southern end of the American island territory in the western Pacific. The Navy’s move was criticised by Democratic Senator Mark Warner, who said the Navy needed people willing to speak up for sailors. He said that Crozier, by his actions, appeared to be a patriot “just trying to do what’s best for his crew.” President Donald Trump, when asked about the captain during a news conference at the White House, said he did not agree with the suggestion that it appeared Crozier was being removed for trying to save the lives of sailors. “I don’t agree with that at all. Not at all. Not even a little bit,” Trump said. Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden said that the Trump administration showed “poor judgement” in relieving the commander. “Donald Trump’s Acting Navy Secretary shot the messenger - a commanding officer who was faithful to both his national security mission and his duty to care for his sailors, and who rightly focused attention on a broader concern about how to maintain military readiness during this pandemic,” Biden said in a statement.