San Francisco Chronicle Exclusive: Captain of aircraft carrier with growing coronavirus outbreak pleads for help from Navy

[basquebromance]

i blame Trump! there's no social distancing on an aircraft carrier, my friends!

Exclusive: Captain of aircraft carrier with growing coronavirus outbreak pleads for help from Navy

The captain of a nuclear aircraft carrier docked in Guam with more than 100...

www.sfchronicle.com

 

[eagle1462010]

Pacific Fleet Commander outlines plans for containing outbreak on carrier Roosevelt

Sailors are going to rotate off the ship, but some will remain aboard, Adm. John Aquilino said.

www.defensenews.com

The plan is to rotate sailors into quarantine facilities for 14 days with the aim of getting them back on the ship after they’ve tested virus free, he said.
“That is the best way, the most accurate way, to validate that a sailor does not have the disease," Aquilino said. "The flow plan allows us to take some number of sailors off – so I can get to some number that I would be comfortable with to do all the missions the ship needs – work the remaining sailors through this quarantine/isolation/test model, then clean the ship and put only healthy sailors back on.”
Of the sailors who have tested positive, they continue to exhibit only mild symptoms, Aquilino said.
“I have no sailors hospitalized, I have no sailors on ventilators, I have no sailors in critical condition, no sailors in an [intensive care unit] status on Theodore Roosevelt,” he said.

 

[Kilroy2]

Really what is going on. I can understand that it's a nuclear sub and there is all kinds of protocols and secrecy surround their were about but

I know that our command organization has been aware of this for about 24 hours and we have been working actually the last seven days to move those sailors off the ship and get them into accommodations in Guam

Delays like that just makes it worse on a virus that is easily spread. They should all be men and woman who are in good shape physically and mentally. So I am positive that none will die but it seems people want to wait and see instead of taking it seriously

 

[eagle1462010]

Really what is going on. I can understand that it's a nuclear sub and there is all kinds of protocols and secrecy surround their were about but

I know that our command organization has been aware of this for about 24 hours and we have been working actually the last seven days to move those sailors off the ship and get them into accommodations in Guam

Delays like that just makes it worse on a virus that is easily spread. They should all be men and woman who are in good shape physically and mentally. So I am positive that none will die but it seems people want to wait and see instead of taking it seriously

According to the article I read from the Navy Times none are having major issues.........Most are younger and in good health anyways............Not a major problem ..........problem is how quick they can test 5000 people and sanitize a floating city.

 

[keepitreal]

Who brought the virus onboard, that what I'm wondering

 

[eagle1462010]

Port of call Vietnam is what I heard.............not sure.......a few got it there.......before the whole world went postal so to say........

It is rumored the pandemic really started in November. But China hid that hoping it wouldn't spread.........some say people have been dying from it initially thinking the Flu bug was out of control......

 

[White 6]

Who brought the virus onboard, that what I'm wondering
[/QUOTE
I do not know the answer, but am wondering how the heck that letter, through channels on official letter head, which involving the readiness of a nuclear aircraft carrier, which should have had a classification above FOUO, dated the 30th, made it to the Chronicle and the internet on the 31st. Somebody needs a boot up their butt.

 

[basquebromance]

"I HAVE A SOLUTION TO THE CRUISE SHIP DILEMMA! Aren't there a lot of empty cruise ships available? Load 'em up with medical supplies/food, tow them to the coronavirus ship, so crew and passengers can split up onto the empty ships. Excellent social distancing! "

 

[L.K.Eder]

"I HAVE A SOLUTION TO THE CRUISE SHIP DILEMMA! Aren't there a lot of empty cruise ships available? Load 'em up with medical supplies/food, tow them to the coronavirus ship, so crew and passengers can split up onto the empty ships. Excellent social distancing! "

ann coulter tweet without source. again.

on top of that, this has already been done, see zaandam/rotterdam.

 

[toobfreak]

i blame Trump! there's no social distancing on an aircraft carrier, my friends!

Exclusive: Captain of aircraft carrier with growing coronavirus outbreak pleads for help from Navy

The captain of a nuclear aircraft carrier docked in Guam with more than 100...

www.sfchronicle.com

I KNEW it! I thought I saw those nasty viruses wearing scuba gear going deep down under water to infect people inside steel submarines! Boy, those little buggers can get EVERYWHERE! Doesn't the Navy yet know that they are supposed to keep their ships six feet apart?

 

[basquebromance]

"I HAVE A SOLUTION TO THE CRUISE SHIP DILEMMA! Aren't there a lot of empty cruise ships available? Load 'em up with medical supplies/food, tow them to the coronavirus ship, so crew and passengers can split up onto the empty ships. Excellent social distancing! "

ann coulter tweet without source. again.

on top of that, this has already been done, see zaandam/rotterdam.

FIXED!

 

[Kilroy2]

Port of call Vietnam is what I heard.............not sure.......a few got it there.......before the whole world went postal so to say........

It is rumored the pandemic really started in November. But China hid that hoping it wouldn't spread.........some say people have been dying from it initially thinking the Flu bug was out of control......

Yeah it is a rumor but the obvious question is that Vietnam is a communist country and would a US warship make a port of call there

I don't know but if it does show how rumors are flying

 

[Kilroy2]

The latest story says that some were transferred to another ship but there are some still on board. Still there are 300 Americans on board the original cruise ship.

If they are having such issues with a cruise ship , how is this war ship going to play out on the other side of the pacific.

 

[basquebromance]

"BREAKING: US Navy is expected to announce that it has relieved the captain who sounded the alarm about a corona outbreak aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt, according to 2 US officials "

 

[odanny]

Pretty cowardly thing to do, you speak out, your career is over. At least his sailors respect this man, and he did his job like a true leader, unlike the Commander in Chief.

 

[Manonthestreet]

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

“Our Sailors are our greatest asset.” “We look after our people.” “We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die.” That last quote, what does it remind you of? To me, it sounds like what we were telling ourselves after the deaths of our Sailors - tired, at the tail end of compounded...

blog.usni.org

 

[basquebromance]

Joe Biden slams firing of Navy captain over leak of letter requesting his ship’s crew be taken off the ship to contain COVID-19 spread. "The poor judgment here belongs to the Trump Administration, not a courageous officer trying to protect his sailors.”

 

[eagle1462010]

Joe Biden slams firing of Navy captain over leak of letter requesting his ship’s crew be taken off the ship to contain COVID-19 spread. "The poor judgment here belongs to the Trump Administration, not a courageous officer trying to protect his sailors.”

WTF cares...........I don't .............he broke the chain of command.........bye............You want Biden then elect him .............until then he isn't in charge of a damned thing.

That ship was sent to Guam........to deal with the situation the best they could do............Same as other ships.

OTHER SHIPS...........have had cases..........I haven't seen them going to the SAN FRAN CHRONICLE..........you have got to be kidding me............

If he felt this way so strongly..........you go to your ELECTED OFFICIALS from your state. Even then.........you have violated the Chain of Command.

 

[SavannahMann]

How do we avoid that?

This question is the root of most every human originated disaster that ever happens. How do we avoid that? When the Theodore Roosevelt docked in Guam, the Navy was spending days trying to avoid the decision they knew needed to be made. Nobody wanted to order the crew to essentially abandon ship and nobody wanted to think about the logistical nightmare of quarantining nearly 5,000 people. Food, medical, and simple services was going to be a nightmare. So it was easier to leave them on the ship while people considered, and they avoided the nightmare scenario of removing the sailors from the ship.

That scenario was a nightmare because you can’t very well report that the ship is ready for action when the crew is on the beach isolated for two weeks or more. Testing some 5,000 people is another nightmare with tests only now coming off the line, and a days long backlog already. The sailor would likely be symptomatic by the time the report on the test came in.

How do we avoid that? We avoid it by not putting everyone on the beach. We avoid it by not taking the ship out of a wartime posture, or at least ready to respond to a wartime scenario. We avoid it by hoping that extra cleaning on the ship would do the trick.

How do we avoid that? I read where someone was outraged by the Captain supposedly going outside the Chain of Command. Nobody knows if he did. The Navy doesn’t know, but they say the Captain is responsible because he Copied too many people into the memo he sent. So even if he didn’t leak it, too many people knew about it and someone was bound to leak it.

You see, there be the rub. Let’s be honest for a moment. The Captain of an Aircraft Carrier has so many bosses that it is probably a full time job for a dozen people just to make sure everyone gets their reports on time. You have Naval Flight Oversight. That is the part of the navy responsible for the planes and standards for pilots. You have the War Command, the part of the Navy like CincPac, or whatever they are calling it nowadays, which controls the part of the ocean the ship is sailing in. You have an Admiral On Board which is the Task Force Commander, you have the Fleet Command, Personnel Command, Medical Command, and all the service and support commands. How much food do you have, are you doing your maintainance in accordance with the standards? Are all the pilots getting their hours and practice approaches?

I got a taste of that in the Army. After my time as a Combat Engineer, I reclassify as an Air Traffic Controller. I was assigned to a Divisional Support Company. When I was deployed in support of the Division, I had to answer and send Reports to the Officer who oversaw Support of the Aviation Units. Then I had to make sure I checked in with my actual Platoon Leader back at the base to insure he knew what I was up to. I had to call the First Sergeant to check in and make sure he was aware that I was taking care of my troops. I had to check in with the Supply Sergeant and confirm that all sensitive items were accounted for twice a day. The Executive Officer was also advised of this.

But there was more. When I wrote an AAR for the training exercise, I had to copy not only my company, and the Aviation Brigade, but the Battalion I was titularly under at Fort Bragg some Three Hundred miles away. Then I had to copy in a couple other commands that had interest in what we were doing, including ATC Standards and Command at Fort Rucker. Another base hundreds of miles away.

That was a Tactical Air Control Team Leader assigned to run a forward support base’s Air Traffic Control. I had a team of four including myself. I can only imagine what it is like for the Captain of a Carrier.

Relieving the Captain is petty and foolish. Delaying the decisions hoping to find out what can we do to avoid this or that is even dumber. The Chain of Command who would not issue the necessary orders should be relieved and sent to some damned base in the middle of nowhere to count Mess Kits.

When you seek higher rank, you seek more responsibility. Unfortunately as this episode has demonstrated, people seeking responsibility is not happening at the upper levels. Whoever the Cinc was for that ship, should have issued the orders before the ship docked. It shouldn’t have come down to a Captain sending out a desperate plea for help to save his sailors. And that plea should have been acted on before it was published in the paper sent by I know not who.

And even if it was the Captain, the chain of command is guilty of negligence and should be relieved before the weekend is over. Their request to retire should be held up for at least a year while they serve as the VD Officer for Iceland or somewhere else extremely remote.

 

[Kilroy2]

Joe Biden slams firing of Navy captain over leak of letter requesting his ship’s crew be taken off the ship to contain COVID-19 spread. "The poor judgment here belongs to the Trump Administration, not a courageous officer trying to protect his sailors.”

WTF cares...........I don't .............he broke the chain of command.........bye............You want Biden then elect him .............until then he isn't in charge of a damned thing.

That ship was sent to Guam........to deal with the situation the best they could do............Same as other ships.

OTHER SHIPS...........have had cases..........I haven't seen them going to the SAN FRAN CHRONICLE..........you have got to be kidding me............

If he felt this way so strongly..........you go to your ELECTED OFFICIALS from your state. Even then.........you have violated the Chain of Command.

He did use the chain of command and if they did something it would have been resolved at that time. But they didn't as this was something most military leaders are not able to deal with.

So he leaked a letter asking for help from his superiors , will I would suspect that this got their attention and they will help those guy serving their country. Yes he will probably be assigned a desk job but I bet he will sleep better at night that he went the extra mile and saved lives. I wonder what his crew thinks of him.