'The ideal environment for coronavirus': how the epidemic captures aircraft carriers and submarines

Outbreaks of coronavirus were immediately detected on several warships in different parts of the globe. Experts and retired sailors warn that submarines and aircraft carriers can now quickly transport around the world not only nuclear charge, but also an epidemic. Writes about this with the BBC.

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The Dutch Navy submarine Dolphin ceases combat duty in the North Sea ahead of schedule and returns to base due to the outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic. Eight of the submarine's 58 crew members have already officially tested positive for COVID-19. In addition, several sailors begin to develop a cough and fever.

Events are developing even more dramatically on board the US Navy aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt. On March 31, the press received a report from the ship’s captain addressed to the US Department of Defense.

“We are not at war. Sailors should not die. If we do not take action now, we will not be able to properly take care of our greatest asset – our sailors,” Captain Brett Crozier wrote in the report.

Filing such a report to the command is a rare and unexpected step by the captain of the aircraft carrier. But in the document, the officer explains what prompted him to such a decision.

“Removing most of the crew from a US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier while the ship is on duty, and isolating people for two weeks, may seem like an extreme measure... But it is a necessary risk,” Crozier wrote. “Keeping more than 4000 people aboard the Theodore Roosevelt under current circumstances is an unnecessary risk that undermines the faith of the sailors we are charged with caring for.”

"The spread of the disease is accelerating"

The aircraft carrier anchored on the island of Guam in the Pacific Ocean (the island is in the possession of the United States) in late March after 25 crew members confirmed the diagnosis of COVID-19.

The sick were removed from the board, but isolating those who contacted them was practically impossible.

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The Roosevelt is an 18-deck hulk the size of several football fields. Sailors can live in one part of the ship and work in a completely different one. To do this, they constantly move along narrow corridors and climb to the required compartments along steep stairs using handrails.

Officers and sailors, sitting close to each other, eat in huge common dining rooms. Moreover, only the captain of the ship and his senior assistant have personal cabins. Officers usually live in two, sailors and foremen - in cubicles of six, 12 or 24 people. If there is even one sick person in such a cockpit, the speed of infection spread on the ship is several times higher than on land.

How many Roosevelt sailors are sick with coronavirus now is already classified information. The US Navy refused to provide exact figures. Sources from the San Francisco Chronicle, whose journalists were the first to report problems on the aircraft carrier, speak of 100 cases. Sources from CNN and CBS say 70. If these numbers are correct, it turns out that the number of cases aboard the Roosevelt has quadrupled in a week.

“The spread of the disease continues and is accelerating,” the aircraft carrier’s captain said in a report.

However, the US Navy emphasizes that sick sailors do not yet need medical attention - none of them are hospitalized and none are in critical condition.

The captain of the Roosevelt, Crozier, proposes to evacuate most of the crew, leaving only 10% of the personnel on board. According to the officer, these 40-50 people will be able to maintain the operation of the nuclear reactor on the ship, carry out disinfection and ensure the safety of the aircraft carrier in the event of an emergency.

On March 31, the US Navy reported the removal of 1000 crew members from the Roosevelt. The problem is that the island of Guam is now densely populated. And if mistakes are made during the isolation of sailors, this could cause an outbreak of coronavirus throughout the island.

The US Navy plans to place the sick on the territory of its military bases, as well as in several hotels in Guam. By Thursday, about 40 specialists from the third battalion of the US Marine Corps Medical Service should arrive on the island.

A floating nursery for an epidemic?

According to CNN sources in the US Department of Defense, an outbreak of coronavirus also occurred on another American aircraft carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan. The TV channel reports that the diagnosis has already been confirmed “in a group of sailors.”

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Each U.S. aircraft carrier has a small but well-equipped medical unit in which you can even carry out complex surgical operations. But in the fight against the epidemic on board, such an infirmary is practically powerless. In confined spaces with artificial ventilation (and there are most such compartments on aircraft carriers and submarines), viruses spread rapidly.

As a retired sailor who had previously served on one of the US aircraft carriers explained, each ship has an instruction that stipulates the maximum allowable number of sick crew members on board and the procedure for emergency situations. There are also instructions when it is possible to suspend a training campaign, and when - on combat duty. In the event of temporary withdrawal from combat duty due to an outbreak of an illness, an aircraft carrier must arrive at the nearest American or Union port for disinfection.

“Naval ships are an ideal environment for the spread of coronavirus,” says retired US Navy Admiral James Stavridis.

In an interview, the officer said that new outbreaks in the Navy should be expected.

“The problems will only get worse. You can't just moor a ship and send everyone ashore in isolation. After all, on board there are tons of weapons, equipment worth billions of dollars, fire hazardous elements and nuclear reactors,” notes the retired admiral.

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