Veterans denounce "unforgivable" decision to remove U.S. Navy Capt. Brett Crozier, who asked for...

Cpl Jeff N. - per the article you cited, the Secretary of the Navy mentions specifically that Capt. Crozier did not go outside the chain of command.
“The fact that he wrote the letter up to his chain of command to express his concerns would absolutely not result in any type of retaliation,' Modly told reporters on Wednesday”.

As for using an unclassified system to send the memo. Well why wouldn’t he? The information wasn’t classified.

Additionally, it’s important to remember that several days before the memo was written, Modly personally encouraged Capt. Crozier to jump the chain of command.
“I think sort of most disappointing to me is that I had set up a direct line to him that if he felt that anything, way before his letter was written, that if he felt anything wasn’t going well and he needed help, that he could reach out to me directly. And he did not do that.“
—Secretary Modly, April 3

Fortunately, Crozier didn’t just call the Secretary of the Navy, as he was ADVISED to do. Because that most certainly would have ended his career with screams of violating the chain of command.

So the recap. SECNAV advises the Capt to contact him directly with any issues. When issues aren’t being adequately addressed, the Capt Instead utilizes his chain of command (acknowledged by the Navy) with an unclassified memo (acknowledged by the Navy) that is leaked by someone other than the Capt. (acknowledged by the Navy).
And after the Navy burns this guy down, his recommendations start getting implemented by the Navy.

SGT (Join to see) -
From the article. Unless he is being misquoted, here is what he said. Crozier shared the letter with people outside the chain of command.
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The secretary insisted that he was not accusing Crozier of leaking the letter himself.

But he did say that the people Crozier shared the letter with included ones 'outside the chain of command'.

Modly said the decision to send the letter 'raised alarm bells unnecessarily' and accused Crozier of 'extremely poor judgment' and creating a 'little bit of a panic' on the ship.

He also accused Crozier of undermining the effectiveness of one of the United States' most important strategic assets in the Pacific.

The Roosevelt is nuclear-powered but it is not known if nuclear weapons are aboard. It is operating in the Pacific where China are the primary naval threats to the US.

Modly said: 'It [sending the letter] raised concerns about the operational capabilities of that ship... that could have emboldened our adversaries to seek advantage.

'For these reasons I lost confidence in his ability to lead that warship.

Cpl Jeff N. - “ The fact that he wrote the letter up to his chain of command to express his concerns would absolutely not result in any type of retaliation.” — Secretary Modly
“I think sort of most disappointing to me is that I had set up a direct line to him that if he felt that anything, way before his letter was written, that if he felt anything wasn’t going well and he needed help, that he could reach out to me directly. And he did not do that.“
—Secretary Modly,

The Secretary INSTRUCTED the Captain the bypass the chain of command, several days prior. Instead of doing that, Crozier actually used the chain of command, as indicated by the Secretary in the announcement of Crozier’s relief. (See above quote)

From Modly, The biggest damnation in regards to the CoC was, “Crozier shared the letter with people outside the chain of command”. The CMPO of the ship isn’t in the Captains chain of command. I’m willing to bet he was CCd on the email. And as the Navy as acknowledged that Crozier didn’t leak the memo to the press...well thats hard pressed to considered a violation of the chain of command.
Particularly considering that the Secretary INSTRUCTED Crozier to violate the chain of command, and then acknowledged that he utilized the chain of command.

If you disagree, please explain.

All the rest of Modly’s statement is essentially CYA-talk.

Here is the relevant portion of the SECNAV's statement on releasing the Captain:
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"The next day, I spoke with the CO of the THEODORE ROOSEVELT myself, and this morning, I have spoken to the TR’s Carrier Strike Group Commander, RDML Stuart Baker. RDML Baker did not know about the letter before it was sent to him via email by the CO. It is important to understand that the Strike Group Commander, the CO’s immediate boss, is embarked on the Theodore Roosevelt, right down the passageway from him. The letter was sent over non- secure, unclassified email even though that ship possesses some of the most sophisticated communications and encryption equipment in the Fleet.

It was sent outside the chain of command, at the same time the rest of the Navy was fully responding. Worse, the Captain’s actions made his Sailors, their families, and many in the public believe that his letter was the only reason help from our larger Navy family was forthcoming, which was hardly the case."
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The SECNAV allowing the captain direct access to him is not a carte blanche for the captain to send emails outside of the chain of command on unsecured networks. The SECNAV IS in the chain of command. The captain was not removed for speaking with the SECNAV as he was encouraged to do. He was removed for going outside of the chain of command (sending an email to people that had no business seeing it). The captains boss, on board the TR, was unaware of the email being sent until after it was sent as well. Crozier panicked, over reached, created confusion and allowed it to become public knowledge that an aircraft carrier was in trouble. That is not a leader we need on an AC carrier.

The USS Teddy Roosevelt is a strategic US Naval asset. The captain exercised poor judgement. At the time of the letter, not one sailor had died, not one had been ill enough to be hospitalized and the Navy was already working to get the ship help. The carrier has Significant Naval healthcare assets on it to deal with more serious things than a virus.

Again, from the SECNAV's statement:
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"Perhaps more so than in the recent past, we require commanders with the judgment, maturity, and leadership composure under pressure to understand the ramifications of their actions within that larger dynamic strategic context. We all understand and cherish our responsibilities, and frankly our love, for all of our people in uniform, but to allow those emotions to color our judgment when communicating the current operational picture can, at best, create unnecessary confusion, and at worst, provide an incomplete picture of American combat readiness to our adversaries."
_________________________________________________________________________The entire statement is hear as well:
https://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=112537