DoD delivers update on virus-stricken aircraft carrier
Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly briefed the press on 1 April on developments aboard the coronavirus-stricken aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt.
Modly confirmed 93 positive cases with 86 already displaying symptoms of the COVID-19 coronavirus. He added that 593 sailors had tested negative and a total of 1,300 tests have been taken with some results still pending.
‘We are providing the commanding officer what he has requested and we are doing our best to accelerate the pace wherever we can’ he told reporters.
Modly briefed reporters the day after the San Francisco Chronicle leaked a letter in which the captain of USS Theodore Roosevelt urged that most of the 4,000-strong crew should be evacuated from the aircraft carrier.
About 1,000 sailors have already left the USS Theodore Roosevelt and this total is expected to rise by a further 1,700 in the next few days.
Related Equipment in Defence Insight
More from Naval Warfare
-
![How the Hormuz mine threat exposes potential Baltic MCM shortfalls]()
How the Hormuz mine threat exposes potential Baltic MCM shortfalls
Ageing Baltic vessels and an absence of active minehunting vessel programmes in the region have been put under the spotlight in the recent conflict.
-
![“We must end the mentality of ever larger platforms”: Why USVs are scaling]()
“We must end the mentality of ever larger platforms”: Why USVs are scaling
Multiple USV programme milestones announced last week, aligned with a reinforcement of the Royal Navy’s vision for a hybrid fleet, point to innovation-led ambition but also to a structural calculation with resource ceilings that neither London nor Washington can ignore.
-
![As uncrewed naval systems advance, capabilities to counter them are emerging]()
As uncrewed naval systems advance, capabilities to counter them are emerging
Research programmes and system procurement efforts to counter uncrewed surface and underwater vehicle threats are accelerating as naval drone uptake spreads.
-
![US Coast Guard to receive the first three Offshore Patrol Cutters in FY2026 and FY2027]()
US Coast Guard to receive the first three Offshore Patrol Cutters in FY2026 and FY2027
After recording a nearly six-year delay in the OPC schedule, the USCG intends to advance with the programme, reaching multiple milestones in the short term.
