Kenneth J. Braithwaite became the 77th Secretary of the Navy during a May 29 Pentagon swearing-in ceremony. He succeeds Acting Navy Secretary Thomas B. Modly, who resigned under a cloud after delivering a speech that criticized Capt. Brett Crozier, former skipper of the carrier Theodore Roosevelt.
Crozier himself had resigned after a letter he had written articulating concerns about the health of his crew, which was ravaged by the COVID-19 virus.
Braithwaite, a Naval Academy graduate and former naval aviator, also holds an advanced degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He had served as the Navy’s vice chief of information, and then as ambassador to Norway.