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Agence France-Presse

The captain of the US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt told the Pentagon that new coronavirus is spreading uncontrollably through his ship and called for immediate help to quarantine its crew.
But Defence Secretary Mark Esper on Tuesday ruled out evacuating the ship, whose plight bears similarities to that on civilian cruise ships where the Covid-19 illness spread.
Captain Brett Crozier wrote in a four-page letter that they had not been able to stem the spread of Covid-19 through the 4,000 crew members, describing a dire situation aboard the vessel now docked at Guam, a US territory in the Pacific.
“We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die,” Crozier wrote, according to The San Francisco Chronicle, which published a copy of the letter on Tuesday.


“The spread of the disease is ongoing and accelerating,” Crozier wrote, referring to the ship’s “inherent limitations of space”.
He asked to be able to quarantine nearly the entire crew onshore at Guam, saying keeping them all on board the ship was an “unnecessary risk”.
Sailors on warships vulnerable as coronavirus spreads
There is little opportunity for “social distancing”, which US civilians have been told to practice, among the cramped passageways and sleeping quarters of an aircraft carrier.
“Removing the majority of personnel from a deployed US nuclear aircraft carrier and isolating them for two weeks may seem like an extraordinary measure,” he said. “This is a necessary risk.”
Asked on the CBS Evening News whether it was time for an evacuation, Esper said: I don’t think we’re at that point.”

He added that supplies and medical assistance are being moved out to the Roosevelt.
“We’re providing additional medical personnel as they need it.”
He added that “none of them are seriously ill” and the US Navy is “trying to make sure that we contain the virus, that we deploy testing kits. We get a good assessment of how much of the crew is infected.”
The Chronicle said that more than 100 aboard the warship had been confirmed infected with the new coronavirus, around four times the figures given last Friday.
US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that nearly 80 people aboard the ship had tested positive.
How will world’s most powerful military fight coronavirus threat?
Crozier asked in the letter for quarantine facilities for the entire crew on Guam.
The US Navy did not confirm the contents of the letter, which were also reported by The New York Times.
In a statement, a US Navy official under condition of anonymity said that Crozier had alerted his Pacific fleet leaders on Sunday of the problems aboard the carrier.
“The ship’s commanding officer advocated for housing more members of the crew in facilities that allow for better isolation,” the official said.


“Navy leadership is moving quickly to take all necessary measures to ensure the health and safety of the crew of USS Theodore Roosevelt, and is pursuing options to address the concerns raised by the commanding officer.”
Some speculated that the infection could have begun with a port stop in Vietnam by the Roosevelt.
The carrier put in to Da Nang port for five days in early March, when the virus was raging in China and more than a dozen cases had been detected in Vietnam.
Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly told CNN Tuesday that he agreed with Crozier on the seriousness of the situation, and that they had been working over the past few days to move people off of the Roosevelt.
However, he said, facilities to sequester the afflicted sailors in Guam, which hosts a major US naval base, are limited.
“We are having to talk to the government there to see if we can get some hotel space, create some tent-type facilities there,” Modly said.
In his letter published by the Chronicle, Crozier referred to a study about the Diamond Princess cruise ship which was quarantined off Japan earlier this year.
The study concluded that early evacuation of passengers and crew would have prevented many more infections. Ten passengers died and more than 700 people who were on board contracted the virus.
Additional reporting by Reuters


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Coronavirus pandemic

US Navy captain’s dramatic plea to evacuate coronavirus-ravaged aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt

Captain Brett Crozier, commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. Photo: US Navy

The Roosevelt, meant to be patrolling the Pacific and South China Sea, is sitting dockside in Guam indefinitely. File photo: Reuters

Coronavirus-struck aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt could hamstring US Navy’s readiness

The aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt at the Da Nang port in Vietnam. Photo: Reuters

U.S. Navy sailors participate in a small arms qualification aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Philippine Sea March 22, 2020. All 5,000 personnel aboard the Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier will be tested for the coronavirus as eight sailors now have the virus, U.S. Navy officials said on March 26, 2020. Picture taken March 22, 2020. U.S. Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Conner D. Blake/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY.

How will world’s most powerful military fight coronavirus threat?

US Army paratroopers assigned to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, walk toward an awaiting aircraft prior to departing for the Middle East from Fort Bragg. File photo: Reuters

FILE PHOTO: USS Boxer (LHD-4) ship sails in the Arabian Sea off Oman July 17, 2019. Picture taken July 17, 2019. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah - RC1501922130/File Photo

Members of the New York Army National Guard stand outside a six lane COVID-19 drive-through testing facility at Glen Island Park in New Rochelle, New York, U.S., on Friday, March 13, 2020. President Donald Trump plans to declare a national emergency on Friday over the coronavirus outbreak, invoking the Stafford Act to open the door to more federal aid for states and municipalities, according to two people familiar with the matter. Photographer: Angus Mordant/Bloomberg

ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA - MARCH 13: Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, talks to journalists about the military response to rocket attacks that killed two U.S. and one U.K. service members in Iraq during a news briefing at the Pentagon March 13, 2020 in Arlington, Virginia. Because of the threat of transmission of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the Pentagon is exercising social distancing by keeping reporters' chairs four feet apart from each other during briefings. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

The commander overseeing the 28,500 or so US troops in hard-hit South Korea was treating the coronavirus response like a full-fledged military operation. Photo: Reuters

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US Navy rejects captain’s plea to evacuate Theodore Roosevelt after dozens of sailors test positive
It was speculated that the infection could have begun with a port stop in Vietnam



‘We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die’. The captain of the US aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt has called on US Navy leadership for stronger measures to save the lives of his sailors and stop the spread of the coronavirus aboard the huge ship.


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Defence

US Navy captain’s dramatic plea to evacuate coronavirus-ravaged aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} US Navy rejects captain’s plea to evacuate Theodore Roosevelt after dozens of sailors test positive It was speculated that the infection could have begun with a port stop in Vietnam

US Navy rejects captain’s plea to evacuate Theodore Roosevelt after dozens of sailors test positive

It was speculated that the infection could have begun with a port stop in Vietnam