Stuart P. Baker is a retired

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

officer, holding the rank of

rear admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

Early life and education

Baker is a native of

La Crosse, Wisconsin La Crosse ( ) is a city in La Crosse County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. Positioned alongside the Mississippi River, La Crosse is the largest city on Wisconsin's western border. La Crosse's population was 52,680 as of the 202 ...

; graduated in 1989 from

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public university, public research university in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the second-oldest List of colleges and universities in Ohio, university in Ohi ...

in Ohio with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

in Paper Science and Engineering; and received his commission via the

Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps The Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) program is a college-based, commissioned officer training program of the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. Origins A pilot Naval Reserve unit was established in September 1924 ...

Naval career

Baker became a

naval aviator Naval aviation / Aeronaval is the application of military air power by navies, whether from warships that embark aircraft, or land bases. It often involves '' navalised aircraft'', specifically designed for naval use. Seaborne aviation encompas ...

in 1991. He received a master's degree from the

Naval War College The Naval War College (NWC or NAVWARCOL) is the staff college and "Home of Thought" for the United States Navy at Naval Station Newport in Newport, Rhode Island. The NWC educates and develops leaders, supports defining the future Navy and associa ...

. He served in

Operation Southern Watch Operation Southern Watch was an air-centric military operation conducted by the United States Department of Defense from August 1992 to March 2003. United States Central Command's Joint Task Force Southwest Asia (JTF-SWA) had the mission of moni ...

stationed aboard the . After spending time with

Carrier Air Wing Fourteen Carrier Air Wing Fourteen (CVW-14), was a United States Navy aircraft carrier air wing based at Naval Air Station Lemoore, California. Mission To conduct carrier air warfare operations and assist in the planning, control, coordination and integr ...

as a

CVW-14 Carrier Air Wing Fourteen (CVW-14), was a United States Navy aircraft carrier air wing based at Naval Air Station Lemoore, California. Mission To conduct carrier air warfare operations and assist in the planning, control, coordination and integ ...

strike operations officer, he was deployed in support of United States operations in the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

, serving with

VFA-146 Strike Fighter Squadron 146 (VFA-146) also known as the "Blue Diamonds" is a United States Navy operational fleet strike fighter squadron based at Naval Air Station Lemoore California. They fly the F/A-18E Super Hornet and are attached to Car ...

aboard the in the

Arabian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.United Nations Group o ...

and

CVW-9 Carrier Air Wing Nine (CVW-9) is a United States Navy aircraft carrier air wing based at Naval Air Station Lemoore. The Air Wing is currently assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72). The Tail Code of aircraft assigned to C ...

aboard the same ship. He also commanded

VFA-137 Strike Fighter Squadron 137 (VFA-137), also known as the "Kestrels", are a United States Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet strike fighter squadron stationed at Naval Air Station Lemoore, California. Their radio callsign is "''Falcon''". History 1980s ...

on the . He was selected for promotion to rear admiral in 2017. Baker's assignments ashore have included being stationed with

Strike Fighter Weapons School Pacific {{Use mdy dates, date=June 2023 Strike Fighter Weapons School Pacific (SFWSPAC) is the Pacific Fleet Strike Fighter School which duty is to safely teach graduate level tactics, techniques and procedures to Pacific Fleet Strike Fighter squadrons, i ...

, the

Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center The Naval Aviation Warfighting Development Center (NAWDC), formerly known as Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center (NSAWC) is the center of excellence for naval aviation training and tactics development, located at Naval Air Station Fallon in Fallo ...

as executive officer of the

TOPGUN The United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program (SFTI program), more popularly known as Top Gun (stylized as TOPGUN), is a United States Navy Military education and training, training program that teaches Air combat manoeuvr ...

program and

United States Fleet Forces Command The United States Fleet Forces Command (USFFC) is a service component command of the United States Navy that provides naval forces to a wide variety of U.S. forces. The naval resources may be allocated to Combatant Commanders such as United Sta ...

. In 2020, Baker was the commanding officer of

Carrier Strike Group 9 Carrier Strike Group 9 (CSG-9 or CARSTRKGRU 9) is a U.S. Navy carrier strike group. Commander Carrier Strike Group 9 (COMCARSTRKGRU 9 or CCSG 9) is responsible for unit-level training, integrated training, and material readiness for the ships an ...

, deployed in the Pacific; he was stationed aboard the aircraft carrier , the

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

of the strike group,Andrew Dyer
Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group deploys
''San Diego Union-Tribune'' (January 17, 2020). which consists of the ''Theodore Roosevelt'' and seven other ships. The ''Theodore Roosevelt'' departed from its

Naval Base San Diego Naval Base San Diego is a United States Navy base in San Diego, California. It is the world's second largest surface ship naval base. Naval Base San Diego is the principal homeport of the United States Pacific Fleet, consisting of over 50 ships ...

home port in mid-January, with more than 6,000 sailors on board, for a seven-month deployment in the Western Pacific ( Indo-Pacific Command) region. In March, during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, there was an

outbreak In epidemiology, an outbreak is a sudden increase in occurrences of a disease when cases are in excess of normal expectancy for the location or season. It may affect a small and localized group or impact upon thousands of people across an entire ...

coronavirus disease 2019 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include f ...

aboard the ship, which was ordered to port in Guam. The ''Theodore Roosevelt''s captain,

Brett Crozier Brett Elliott Crozier (born February 24, 1970) is a retired captain in the United States Navy. A United States Naval Academy graduate, he became a naval aviator, first flying helicopters and then switching to fighters. After completing naval ...

, urged to have most of the sailors immediately removed from the ship, quarantined ashore, and tested for the virus to prevent the spread of the disease. Baker, his superior officer, disagreed, feeling such an action was impractical and too drastic. On March 29, after four days of his pleas being rebuffed by Baker and other superiors, Crozier sent a four-page memorandum to ten Navy officers including Baker and his two immediate superiors, Admiral John C. Aquilino and Vice Admiral

DeWolfe Miller III DeWolfe H. "Chip" Miller III (born 1959) is a former Vice admiral (United States), vice admiral in the United States Navy who retired as the Commander, Naval Air Forces (aka "the Air Boss"), which is also Type Commander (TYCOM) for all United State ...

. Crozier begged for the ship to be mostly evacuated because of the risk to the crew. A few days later Crozier was relieved of command by Acting Secretary of the Navy

Thomas Modly Thomas B. Modly (born December 15, 1960) is an American businessman and former government official who served as acting United States Secretary of the Navy from November 24, 2019, to April 7, 2020. He resigned as acting Secretary in the wake of ...

, who blamed Crozier for sending his memorandum over "non-secure unclassified email" to a "broad array of people" and accused Crozier of having "unnecessarily raised the alarm" about the virus. The day after Crozier's letter became public, the Navy began to evacuate the ship. By 13 April 585 crew members had tested positive for the disease and one had died.Lara Seligman
Sailor from USS Theodore Roosevelt dies of coronavirus
''Politico'' (April 13, 2020). A Navy inquiry, whose results were announced on 19 June, concluded that Crozier and Baker made poor decisions regarding the coronavirus outbreak, so that Baker's scheduled promotion to two-star admiral will be put on hold.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Stuart P. People from La Crosse, Wisconsin Military personnel from Wisconsin United States Navy rear admirals (lower half) United States Naval Aviators United States Navy personnel of the Iraq War Miami University alumni Naval War College alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people)