New recruits with India Company, 3rd Recruit training Battalion, are issued gear after arriving at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, Calif., April 27, 2020. US Marine Corps Photo
SAN DIEGO — Marine Corps officials found an outbreak of the COVID-19 virus among recruits who arrived a month ago at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, service officials confirmed to USNI News. Read More
William Courtney, the prospective chief mate aboard the Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20), communicates with his crew during a supplies onload while the ship is moored in New York in support of the nation’s COVID-19 response efforts. US Navy photo.
This post has been corrected to state there have been cases of COVID-19 among civilian mariners on Military Sealift Command ships. Two cases emerged on oiler USNS Leroy Grumman (T-AO-195) between the Friday interview and Wednesday article publication. That ship is in Boston Ship Repair for maintenance. Two CIVMARS were infected on hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) early in its New York mission and have since recovered, but that was not disclosed by MSC during the interview. A fifth CIVMAR is known to have contracted the disease while on leave and has also recovered.
The Military Sealift Command is keeping supplies moving uninterrupted throughout the globally operating Navy fleet and has done so with zero COVID-19 infections among its civilian mariners at sea due to early and aggressive actions, the commander of MSC told USNI News. Read More
Capt. Brett Crozier, then-commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), addresses the crew during an all-hands call on the ship’s flight deck on Nov. 15, 2019. US Navy Photo
This post has been updated with a statement from Acting Secretary of the Navy James McPherson.
The Navy is set to widen the investigation of the removal of the former commander of USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), taking a closer look at the service’s overall command climate in the Pacific, the Navy announced on Wednesday. Read More
USS Bunker Hill (CG 52) transits the Philippine Sea, on March 24, 2020. US Navy Photo
This post has been updated with additional details of Bunker Hill’s freedom of navigation operation.
Guided-missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill (CG-52) conducted a freedom of navigation operation through the Spratly Island chain in the South China Sea, U.S. 7th Fleet announced on Wednesday. Read More
Aviation Ordnanceman 1st Class Nicholas Beemer, from Huntington, Ind., enters a restricted area of the hangar bay aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) to sanitize and secure the space on April 26, 2020. US Navy Photo
The crew of USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) is beginning to return aboard the aircraft carrier after almost a month of isolation on Guam designed to combat a major COVID-19 outbreak, U.S. 7th Fleet announced on Wednesday. Read More
USS Kidd (DDG-100) arrives in San Diego on April 28, 2020. US Navy Photo
The second deployed U.S. warship to suffer a COVID-19 outbreak pulled into San Diego on Tuesday to begin the process of offloading, testing, isolating and treating the crew and disinfecting the ship to prepare to head back to sea. Read More
Seaman Xi Chan stands lookout on the flight deck as the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Barry (DDG-52) transits the Taiwan Strait during routine underway operations on April 23, 2020. US Navy Photo
Chinese authorities said they sortied ships and aircraft to “track, monitor, verify, identify and expel” a U.S. warship from the Paracel Island chain in the South China Sea on Tuesday, People’s Liberation Army (PLA) officials said on Chinese social media. Read More
Gregory Slavonic, middle, the assistant Secretary of the Navy for manpower and reserve affairs tours tours the amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island (LHD-8) with Capt. Christopher Westphal in 2019. US Navy Photo
The Navy’s head of manpower is filling in as the service’s civilian second-in-command, a Navy official told USNI News. Read More
The following is the April 24, 2020 Congressional Research Service Report, China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities—Background and Issues for Congress. Read More
USS Nimitz (CVN 68) passes Mount Rainier while transiting Puget Sound on Feb. 22, 2020. U.S. Navy Photo
This post was updated with a statement from U.S. 3rd Fleet.
Aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68) departed Bremerton, Wash., on Monday for its final pre-deployment training event, in what is the Navy’s first real test of its plan to prevent COVID-19 from spreading among deploying crews.
