Pentagon chief: Roosevelt could be back at sea ‘in a few weeks’

Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Wednesday said the aircraft carrier that docked in Guam after hundreds of sailors were infected with the coronavirus could be back at sea “in a few weeks.”

Esper’s comments about the USS Theodore Roosevelt came after the Navy said earlier Wednesday that 615 sailors from the ship have tested positive for COVID-19, and 4,046 of the 4,800-person crew have been moved ashore in Guam.

The Pentagon chief said on Fox News that a majority of sailors who have the virus are asymptomatic “and so we’re trying to be doubly careful as we clean that ship up and get the sailors back to sea which we think will happen in a few weeks here.”

The Roosevelt has been in Guam since March 27 after the virus broke out among sailors, one of whom has since died after being admitted to an intensive care.

Another sailor was in intensive care on Tuesday at the U.S. Naval Hospital Guam, and four other sailors are also being treated at the medical facility but not in the ICU.

The outbreak roiled the Navy after the ship’s former commander, Capt. Brett Crozier, warned of potentially dire consequences if most crew members weren’t evacuated.

Then-acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly fired Crozier on April 2 after the letter with the warning leaked, but days later Modly resigned after he gave a speech on board the Roosevelt that berated Crozier as “naive” or “stupid.”

Before he resigned, Modly started an investigation into Crozier and the Pacific Fleet to determine the cause of the “breakdown in the chain of command.”

Esper said that the investigation wrapped up last week and it will be sent to the new acting Navy Secretary James McPherson this week for review before he sees it.

The Roosevelt’s infected sailors make up nearly two-thirds of the Navy’s current 951 positive coronavirus cases. Across the military, there are 2,486 cases.