The Facts

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the cause of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic, was detected on the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt in March 2020 while she was at sea. Affected crew members were evacuated and the ship was ordered to Guam. The captain, Brett Crozier, wanted most of the crew to be removed from the ship to prevent the spread of the disease, but his superiors balked. After several days Crozier e-mailed three of his superior officers and seven other Navy Captains, outlining a plan for the ship to be largely evacuated because the virus could not be contained on board. The letter leaked to the press, and the next day the Navy ordered most of the crew to be taken ashore, but the captain was relieved of command by Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly. Modly's order was controversial, and his later speech to the crew aboard the Roosevelt was criticized. Modly resigned a few days later. By mid-April hundreds of crew members including Crozier had tested positive for the virus, and one had died.

Time Line

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