Acting Navy secretary quits over ouster of captain

The Navy secretary resigned Tuesday in a mushrooming controversy over the firing of a popular aircraft carrier captain who warned about coronavirus endangering his sailors.

Acting Secretary Thomas Modly quit a day after he was recorded telling sailors on the virus-stricken USS Theodore Roosevelt that fired Capt. Brett Crozier was “either too stupid or too naive” to lead them.

Modly was left swinging in the wind after President Trump apparently reversed his previous support for the tone-deaf dismissal of Crozier.

The president slammed Modly’s blunt remarks as “rough” on Monday. Hours before Modly’s resignation, the president retweeted a prediction that he would soon “get involved” in Crozier’s ouster.

Modly issued a written apology late Monday but that failed to quell demands for his head.