Port Visits Cancelled, Submariners’ Health Monitored to Contain Coronavirus Spread at Sea

Retail Services Specialist 3rd Class Thuy Nguyen and Airman Manuel Lozano stand watch in front of the barge quarterdeck of the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard to screen oncoming traffic for COVID-19 symptoms. U.S. Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Devin Kates

ARLINGTON, Va. — Nonessential port visits by U.S. Navy ships
have been cancelled and Sailors’ health aboard the nuclear deterrent submarine
force is being closely monitored, top officials said in the latest report on
combatting the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday said he believed “every port visit, with the exception of ships that need to pull in for maintenance or resupply,” had been cancelled. He was sure with “high certainty” that all ships in the Pacific Ocean were no longer making scheduled port calls and crews of ships that do make stops would be confined to the pier area while in port.

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In a March 24 press briefing, Gilday and acting Navy Secretary
Thomas Modly announced that three Sailors deployed in the Pacific aboard the
aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt were diagnosed with COVID-19 and were
being evacuated from the carrier. It was the first appearance of the novel
coronavirus on a deployed ship at sea, Modly said, adding that all those who encountered
the three sick individuals were being quarantined aboard the Roosevelt. There
were no plans to recall the carrier or any other deployed ship, Gilday said.

“We have not missed any operational commitment in the Navy
at this time,” he said, adding that the impact to force readiness has been low
“but that’s not to say that this couldn’t spike at any given time. We continue
to watch this very closely in every ship, squadron and submarine.”

Gilday said all crews of the ballistic missile submarine
force — which forms the maritime leg of the nuclear triad of submarines,
bombers and ground-based missiles — undergo enhanced medical screenings and
14-day isolation before beginning training or deployment aboard a sub. “We have
not seen a single case yet” of COVID-19 within the submarine force, Gilday
said.

Elsewhere, two Navy hospital ships were being readied to
ease the burden on health care workers and institutions in two cities hard-hit
by the coronavirus pandemic, Los Angeles and New York, Modly said.

From left: Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly, Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Russell Smith, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday and Rear Adm. Bruce Gillingham, the Navy surgeon general, speak to the media about the ongoing efforts to combat COVID-19 while maintaining operations. U.S. Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Sarah Villegas

The hospital ship USNS Mercy, which is based in San Diego, was
doing some initial training off the coast of California and would reach Los
Angeles “within the next few days,” he said, adding that Mercy would need
another 24 hours after arriving in L.A. “to prepare for how she’ll receive
patients” before the sick are brought aboard. The USNS Comfort, based in
Norfolk, Virginia, tasked with aiding New York City’s medical services squeezed
by the surge of COVID-19 cases, is still preparing for its mission, Modly said.

Both ships will serve as referral hospitals for patients not
infected with the coronavirus to allow local medical services to focus on those
who are, Modly stressed. “They’re there to handle the overflow of acute trauma
cases and other urgent needs, and they will not be handling pediatric or OB-GYN
cases,” the acting Navy secretary said.

“We continue to watch this very closely in every ship, squadron and submarine.”

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly

Because of the pandemic, the Navy has postponed, until 2021,
this summer’s Large-Scale Exercise 2020, the first of a planned return to
annual large exercises involving several strike groups. Modly said no decision has
been made yet on scrubbing Hawaii-based Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC), the world’s
largest international maritime exercise that runs every two years in June and
July.

Both Modly and Gilday said they expect COVID-19 shutdowns
will challenge work tempo at Navy and private shipyards. While the work of the
private shipyards is essential in producing and repairing ships “we are also
concerned about the health of their people. We don’t want them putting them at
risk, either,” Modly said, noting Navy officials were talking with company executives
daily.

Meanwhile, large prime contractors were, in effect, creating
task forces to monitor the supply chains “to keep all of those production lines
running and to see where we might be incurring risk out through, 2021, so that
we can then prioritize what type of work we need to do,” Gilday said.