When Carriers are Carriers

"A Supercarrier Sidelined By COVID-19 Could Be The Canary In The Coal Mine For The Navy"

Two days ago, three U.S. Navy sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) tested positive for COVID-19. Yesterday an additional five sailors tested positive. This is the first time that the Navy has detected the virus aboard a warship at sea. While aircraft carriers have capable and well-equipped medical departments, complete with operating rooms and intensive care units, ships at sea are an extremely difficult environment in which to quarantine individuals who are infected. Accordingly, Roosevelt has suspended its deployment and is now in port in Guam. The entire ship will be placed in quarantine while its crew, literally all of the personnel aboard, will be tested for COVID-19.

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Reasonable people can differ on whether the aircraft carrier, with its massive cost basis and uncertain survivability against modern anti-ship ballistic missiles and other emerging threats, is still the best option for protecting American interests abroad. With that said, for the near future at least, the aircraft carrier still plays a central role in America's national security strategy, and a COVID outbreak on a currently deployed aircraft carrier threatens to remove that forward-deployed part of America's national security construct on short notice and leave a large and unfillable gap for a period of at least several months. ...

The _Roosevelt_outbreak has since grown to at least 25 confirmed cases.

Concerns are also raised over other ship classes. Including those boats called "boomers" and "hunter-killers".

#covid19 #coronavirus #USNavy #military #USSTheodoreRoosevelt