Former acting Navy secretary’s trip to Guam, which led to his resignation, cost almost a quarter of a million dollars

CNN — The recently resigned acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly’s Monday trip to Guam where he addressed the crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt and slammed their former commander, cost the Defense Department an estimated $243,000, according to a Navy official. The memo leaked, prompting Modly to remove Crozier from command and fly to Guam to address the ship in remarks that included calling Crozier “stupid.” While not explicitly mentioning Modly or his resignation, the Navy’s top admiral, Chief of Naval Operation Adm. Mike Gilday, sent a message to the Navy on Wednesday acknowledging that “the events of the past week have been difficult for our Navy and our nation.” ‘Moving forward’ “The events of the past week have been difficult for our Navy and our nation. So even with the challenge of the Covid virus, we are going to continue to look at ways to make sure our leadership stays engaged and informed and through the course of the year, senior leaders need to get out in the field and understand what’s going on and be able to work with the forces there.” Hyten echoed that sentiment. Nearly a week after Modly fired Crozier for too widely disseminating the memo calling for the urgent evacuation of the ship’s crew, the Navy has only evacuated 2,329 of the aircraft carrier’s nearly 4,800 sailors.