Why he had to be relieved of duty.

What struck us as particularly off in the captain’s letter was his statement: “We are not at war.” He added that “sailors do not need to die” and that “if we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset — our sailors.” The Navy, though, doesn’t need to be instructed on the value of its own sailors. Plus, too, under our system it’s not carrier captains who decide whether we’re at war.

The most important asset is not the crew, but the ship, and the crew must be ready to be sacrificed for the mission. I wrote a book about that.