US Navy evacuates virus-struck aircraft carrier Roosevelt

The US Navy is evacuating thousands of sailors from the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt in Guam after its captain warned a coronavirus outbreak was threatening the lives of the crew.

There have been 93 Covid19 cases discovered among the 4,800-strong Roosevelt crew so far, according to the US Navy.

Pentagon officials said Wednesday they were rapidly arranging hotel rooms on the Pacific island for many of the personnel, while organising a skeleton team of uninfected sailors to keep the ship operational.

“The plan at this time is to remove as many people off the Teddy Roosevelt as we can, understanding that we have to leave a certain amount of folks on-board to perform normal watch-standing duties that keep the ship running,” Rear Admiral John Menoni, commander for the Marianas region, told reporters in Guam on Wednesday.

Speaking in Washington, Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said that almost 1,000 of the crew had been removed, and that that number would rise to 2,700 within a couple days, and more after that.

But they need to retain around 1,000 on board just to maintain the vessel, as it undergoes a thorough sterilisation.

“We cannot and will not remove all the sailors from the ship,” Modly said.

“This ship has weapons on it, it has munitions on it, it has expensive aircraft, and has a nuclear power plant,” he said.

Earlier this week the

Roosevelt’s captain Brett Crozier told his superiors that the virus was spreading uncontrollably through the ship and called for immediate help to quarantine its crew.

“The spread of the disease is ongoing and accelerating,” Crozier wrote.

“We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die.”

“Removing the majority of personnel from a deployed US nuclear aircraft carrier and isolating them for two weeks may seem like an extraordinary measure,” Crozier said.

“This is a necessary risk.”

As of Wednesday more than 1,400 Defence Department employees, contractors and dependents had been infected by the novel coronavirus, including 771 military personnel, the Pentagon said. — AFP

— AFP file photo An F/A-18F Super Hornet, assigned to the ‘Black Knights’ of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 154, launching from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), in the Pacific Ocean.