'Bring every ship in': Former Navy secretary says

[left-of-center2012]

Former Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said the US fleet is facing an "acute problem" with the coronavirus pandemic and suggested it needed to make drastic measures.

"People do not have any way to social distance on any Navy ship, but particularly a carrier," Mabus said. "You've got almost 5,000 people here (on a carrier). And they literally are on top of each other."

"I think what they need to do is bring every ship in," Maybus said. "... Offload most of the crew ... leave a very skeletal force on board, sanitize the ship, quarantine people for two weeks, make sure nobody's got COVID. It's going to be hard because they may be inport in Norfolk or in San Diego, and once they go back on the ship and the ship is COVID-free, they're not going to get off to see their families".

Mabus' comments come as the Defense Department reported over 5,000 coronavirus cases. Over 2,800 of the personnel are US service members, 85 of which are hospitalized as of Wednesday. One Navy sailor has died after contracting the coronavirus.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/bring-every-ship-former-navy-220526018.html

[empedocles]

1. Blasphemy' against trump

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

2. Testing. If they can show that nobody on a ship has it, don't bring it to shore.

Yes, they have to resupply, and it's a pain-in-the-ass ship-to-ship, but if it keeps a whole crew safe ...

[gibraltar72]

3. Read that the Truman battle group had ended its tour of duty

but had been told to stay in open water rather than return. Purpose was to keep them from getting contaminated here.

[left-of-center2012]

4. The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group ...

The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group is done with its deployment but will remain at sea off the East Coast of the United States, in an effort to keep the crew healthy from the COVID-19 pandemic and ready to take on missions if needed. The Truman Carrier Strike Group’s surface ships include Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Lassen (DDG-82), USS Farragut (DDG-99) and USS Forrest Sherman (DDG-98), and Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG-60) – with the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75)

Though the strike group has already conducted two deployments in a row without a major maintenance period, the Truman CSG is now the only on-call carrier strike group on the East Coast and must remain ready if needed, U.S. 2nd Fleet said in a statement. That means keeping the COVID-19 virus from finding its way aboard the ship.

“The ship is entering a period in which it needs to be ready to respond and deploy at any time,” 2nd Fleet Commander Vice Adm. Andrew Lewis said in the statement.
“Normally we can do that pier-side, but in the face of COVID-19, we need to protect our most valuable asset, our people, by keeping the ship out to sea.”

He did not elaborate on the timeline for keeping the carrier strike group out at sea, but he said there was a plan with decision points along the way that would involve leadership above his level. He vowed that sailors and their families would be kept in the loop every step along the way and said the next check-in would occur in about three weeks.

https://news.usni.org/2020/04/13/truman-carrier-strike-group-will-stay-at-sea-to-avoid-covid-19-infections

[Baclava]

5. The land is contaminated! Stay at sea! Bad time for shore leave in most places, I'd imagine