The U.S. Navy will not deploy a Virginia-based warship after a federal judge barred the service from discharging the ship’s unvaccinated commander, who has sued the Department of Defense over the coronavirus vaccine mandate.
The Navy commander, who remains anonymous, filed the lawsuit in October with several other service members, all of whom sought to avoid the vaccine over their religious beliefs, though he later refiled in January along with a Marine lieutenant colonel.
Last month, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction, which barred the service from forcing them to get the vaccine.
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The Navy, in court documents, also argued that the commander had lost the confidence of his superiors for reasons unrelated to his vaccination status.
“The court’s order effectively requires the Navy to leave a subordinate commander in command of a warship despite his senior officer’s questions related to his fitness to discharge his duties as ordered,” Vice Adm. Daniel Dwyer, the commander of 2nd Fleet, said in written testimony to the court.
District Judge Steven Merryday accused the Navy’s attorneys of trying “to evoke the frightening prospect of a dire national emergency resulting from allegedly reckless and unlawful overreaching by the district judge” and denied their appeal earlier this month.
Capt. Frank Brandon, who serves as the commodore of Destroyer Squadron 25, said in written testimony that the commander showed up to a meeting of roughly 50-60 people while he was showing coronavirus symptoms and later tested positive.
Brandon issued the commander a letter of instruction, which according to his testimony, is “an administrative measure intended to document deficiencies and prescribe corrective action.”
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In February, the commander asked for leave to spend time with his family, and Brandon later found out that he traveled out of the area for the case, even after he was asked “directly” about leaving the “local area.”
Brandon believes the commander “intentionally misled me,” adding, “This is cause along for removal of Command. If I cannot trust the Commanding officer of a guided-missile destroyer to honestly apprise me of his whereabouts, I cannot trust him with command of the ship or her crew.”
An overwhelming majority, more than 90%, of all service members have been vaccinated, though that leaves thousands unvaccinated and facing separation barring an exemption. The services have granted roughly 20 religious exemptions out of more than 16,000 requests.
