A multi-billion-dollar Navy warship on America’s east coast remains docked and ‘out of commission’ because it’s commanded by an officer who refuses to get the COVID-19 vaccine for religious reasons, Navy officials say.
An ongoing legal battle between the US’ Department of Defense and the unnamed officer has left the battleship docked and unable to deploy, as officials from the military branch look to nix the serviceman for the refusal – despite a federal judge’s recent ruling that he can’t be fired for declining the vaccine on religious grounds.
The case is part of a class action suit filed in Florida federal court late last year, alleging servicemembers’ rights are being infringed upon due to military branches’ COVID vaccine mandates, after they were denied religious exemption requests for the jab.
A multi-billion-dollar Navy warship on America’s east coast remains docked and ‘out of commission’ because it’s commanded by an officer who refuses to get the COVID-19 vaccine for religious reasons, Navy officials say. A stock image of a destroyer is pictured
According to court documents filed in federal court last month, the officer was reprimanded by superiors after refusing to get the vaccine and reporting to work on the the unnamed destroyer, docked in Norfolk, Virginia, while exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms.
Navy officials alleged that the commander reported to work while sick, putting ‘dozens’ of the ship’s crew at risk, and that the officer also failed to report he was traveling outside the ship while experiencing symptoms synonymous with the virus.
Navy brass denied the officers’ request for a religious exemption, court filings show, and sought to have him dismissed from command on the ship.
The serviceman subsequently sued the Department of Defense – and President Biden – along with nearly three dozen other unnamed US soldiers, in a civil suit that alleges the soldiers’ constitutional rights were infringed upon due to religious exemption denials.
The ongoing legal battle has left the Navy short a warship, as officials from the military branch argue a federal judge’s recent ruling (pictured) that the unnamed officer was justified in his refusal to get the vaccine on religious grounds, seeking to nix him from the vessel’s command
Last month, a federal judge ruled the Navy could not remove the officer from his post, despite his superiors’ claims that they had lost faith in his ability to lead as a result of his actions, saying the serviceman’s religious objections to the vaccine are protected by federal law.
The preliminary injunction from U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday, filed February 18, barred the military branch from requiring the commander – as well as his lieutenant colonel, who also filed for religious exemption – to take the vaccine in order to continue to serve.
It also forbid Navy brass from issuing ‘any punitive or retaliatory measure against [them] pending a final judgment in the case,’ the filing states, ‘pending a final judgment in this action.’
On Thursday, Merryday denied the Department of Defense’s request to halt the injunction, which argued that the commanding officer cannot be trusted to enforce orders to his 320-sailor crew if he does not abide by those orders himself.
Navy officials had wrote in their appeal of Merryday’s decision, filed February 28: ‘By forcing the Navy to keep in place a commander of a destroyer who has lost the trust of his superior officers and the Navy at large, this Order effectively places a multi-billion dollar guided missile destroyer out of commission.’
The appeal called Merryday’s injunction ‘an extraordinary intrusion upon the inner workings of the military.’
Last month, U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday ruled the Navy could not remove the officer from his post, despite superiors’ claims they had lost faith in his ability to lead as a result of his actions, saying the serviceman’s religious objections to the vaccine are protected by law
‘With respect to Navy Commander, the Navy has lost confidence in his ability to lead and will not deploy the warship with him in command.’
Merryday, a George H.W. Bush nominee who oversees the federal trial court in Florida, gained notoriety in 2021 after blocking a CDC order that limited cruise ship operations during the pandemic.
Following Merryday’s ruling, other Navy officials also expressed concern for the commander’s anti-vaccine stance, court documents show.
Admiral Daryl Caudle, the head of United States Fleet Forces, which boasts 68 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, including the one commanded by the plaintiff, filed an official statement heard by the court the day of the Navy’s appeal, saying the service doesn’t have room for sailors who disobey vaccination rules.
‘In the deadly business of protecting our national security, we cannot have a Sailor who disobeys a lawful order to receive a vaccine because they harbor a personal objection any more than we can have a Sailor who disobeys the technical manual for operating a nuclear reactor because he or she believes they know better,’ he wrote.
Admiral Daryl Caudle, the head of United States Fleet Forces, filed an official statement heard the day of the Navy appealed the judge’s ruling, saying the service doesn’t have room for sailors who disobey vaccination rules
Vice Admiral Daniel Dwyer, meanwhile, commander of the US Second Fleet, questioned Merryday’s decision, saying it had left Navy officials at a loss as to what to do with the commander, as they refuse to deploy the ship with him in command.
‘The court’s order effectively requires the Navy leave a subordinate commander in command of a warship, despite his senior officer’s questions relating to his fitness to discharge his duties as ordered,’ Dwyer said in the February motion to appeal judge Merryday’s decision.
‘Under no circumstances would the Navy typically deploy a commander in an operational capacity with whom his or her superior officers have such reservations.’
Vice Admiral Daniel Dwyer, meanwhile, commander of the US Second Fleet, questioned Merryday’s decision, saying it had left Navy officials at a loss as to what to do with the commander, as they refuse to deploy the ship with him in command
Captain Frank Brandon, the commodore of the vessel’s squadron, Destroyer Squadron 26, stated he lost faith in the commander’s leadership after he went to work while exhibiting COVID symptoms, violating a Navy order for symptomatic personnel to get tested
Court documents filed earlier in the month alleged the commander ‘exposed dozens of his crew to COVID-19 when he decided not to test himself after experiencing symptoms.’
Captain Frank Brandon, the commodore of the vessel’s squadron, Destroyer Squadron 26, stated he lost faith in the commander’s leadership after he went to work while exhibiting symptoms associated with the virus, violating a Navy order for symptomatic personnel to get tested.
In the February filing, Brandon further alleged the commander reported to work while sick, putting subordinates at risk, and failed to report he was traveling outside of the ship while experiencing symptoms synonymous with coronavirus.
Brandon ordered the commander to get tested – a test that came back positive, the court filings reveal.
‘I believe that Plaintiff Navy Commander intentionally misled me,’ Brandon said.
‘This is cause alone 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 this ship and her crew.’
Brandon also described an instance where he visited the Navy commander aboard his ship in November where the commanding officer ‘could barely speak.’
The officer went on to declare that Merryday, through his order, was responsible for the ship’s current inert state at the Norfolk Navy Station – despite it being the Navy’s decision to bar the ship from deploying with the officer in command – saying it ‘effectively places a multi-billion-dollar guided-missile destroyer out of commission.’
DailyMail.com reached out to Navy officials for comment regarding the case Wednesday afternoon, but did not immediately receive a response.
On Wednesday, Republican leaders reacted with ire to news of Merryday’s ruling, first reported Friday by Slate.
‘Biden’s illegal vaccine mandates now actively undermining U.S. national security,’ Texas Senator Ted Cruz tweeted Tuesday.
Fellow GOP member Joey Gilbert, a gubernatorial candidate for the state of Nevada, echoed Cruz’s stance on the issue.
‘According to the Navy, a U.S. destroyer can’t deploy because the commanding officer refuses to get a COVID-19 vaccine’ Gilbert said.
‘Our country cares more about your vaccine status than our national security.’
On Wednesday, Republican leaders reacted with ire to news of Merryday’s ruling
As of March 2, 2022, according to the military service’s website, 4,629 active Navy personnel out of roughly 350,000 remain unvaccinated – roughly 3 percent of all active servicemembers.
Meanwhile, 3,152 reserve service members, of which there are roughly 101,600. remain unvaccinated.
The service has separated with 419 servicemembers for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine since the mandate was announced by the service in August.
The service has so far only handed out 12 permanent medical exemptions – along with 211 temporary ones – for the vaccine, as well as 39 administrative exemptions.
Navy brass have yet to hand out a religious exemption, despite receiving 3,472 religious exemption requests from active members.