
Navy officials have insisted that the coronavirus-stricken USS Roosevelt is still war-ready as they work to evacuate half of its 5,000-person crew following an unprecedented plea for help from the ship's captain.

At least 93 sailors on the nuclear aircraft carrier have tested positive for COVID-19 as of Wednesday and around 1,300 have been screened for the disease, with about half of those results still pending, officials said.

About 1,000 sailors, or 20 percent, have already been removed from the ship, which docked in Guam a week ago when the COVID-19 outbreak was first reported.

Plans are in place to remove a total of 2,700 sailors from the USS Roosevelt by the weekend as officials scramble to secure enough hotel rooms to house them near US Naval Base Guam.

At a briefing on the island on Thursday, Rear Admiral John Menoni, the region's US Navy commander, insisted that the vessel, despite the outbreak, 'is not incapacitated' and 'could go to sea tomorrow if conditions required'.

A news conference hours earlier on Wednesday marked the first time the Navy had disclosed specific numbers on the outbreak since the ship's commander, Captain Brett Crozier, took the extraordinary step of pleading for help in protecting his sailors.

In a leaked letter to Navy top brass that came to light on Tuesday, Crozier called for the immediate evacuation and isolation of 90 percent of the USS Roosevelt crew.

'We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die. If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset — our Sailors,' Crozier wrote.

The letter put the Pentagon on the defensive about whether it was doing enough to keep the USS Roosevelt's crew safe as lawmakers and families of military members express concerns that other ships could be vulnerable to outbreaks.

Acting US Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said Crozier would 'absolutely not' face retaliation for writing the letter but indicated that he would be punished if officials found that he was the one who leaked it.

The USS Roosevelt was forced to dock in Guam last week after 25 sailors on board tested positive for coronavirus. As of Wednesday, 93 crew members have tested positive and about 1,000 have been evacuated from the ship (seen in port Friday)

Around 1,300 sailors on the USS Roosevelt have been tested for COVID-19 as of Wednesday. About half of those results are still pending. Pictured: Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Adrian Noceda takes a sample for testing on March 27

Plans are in place to remove a total of 2,700 sailors from the USS Roosevelt by the weekend as officials scramble to secure enough hotel rooms to house them near US Naval Base Guam

Acting US Navy Secretary Thomas Modly disclosed specific numbers on the outbreak at a news conference on Wednesday (pictured), hours after a letter from the ship's commander, Captain Brett Crozier, was leaked to the media

Modly said he disagreed with Crozier's assertion that all but 10 percent of the ship's crew could be removed from the vessel if necessary.

'This ship has weapons on it. It has munitions on it... It requires a certain number of people on that ship to maintain the safety and security of the ship,' Modly said.

He and other Navy leaders have insisted that around 1,000 crew members need to remain on the ship to keep critical functions running.

In a four-page letter to Navy leaders, Captain Brett Crozier (pictured) warned that the outbreak aboard the USS Roosevelt is accelerating and asked that over 4,000 sailors be removed and put in isolation

Crozier had also insisted that every single member of the crew needs to be tested for COVID-19 given the tight quarters on the ship.

But as of Wednesday, only about a quarter - 1,273 - had received tests.

Officials said 93 of those tests had come back positive, 593 were negative and the rest still being processed.

Modly said testing has 'accelerated', noting that only 200 sailors could be tested each day. A sailor told the San Francisco Chronicle the tests are being processed at a lab in South Korea.

Out of the 93 infected sailors, seven did not show symptoms, officials said.

Asked whether Crozier would face discipline for his blunt letter, Modly told reporters: 'The fact that he wrote the letter up to his chain of command to express his concerns would absolutely not result in any type of retaliation.'

However, he suggested that discipline would be warranted if officials found that Crozier was the one who leaked the letter to the media.

'I don't know who leaked the letter to the media,' Modly said.

'That would be something that would violate the principles of good order and discipline, if he were responsible for that. But I don't know that.'

Tugboats and other maritime vessels assist the USS Roosevelt as it docks at the Kilo Wharf of Naval Base Guam in Sumay on Friday. Officials are scrambling to secure hotel rooms for 2,700 sailors being evacuated from the aircraft carrier

CAPTAIN BRETT CROZIER'S FULL MEMO TO NAVY LEADERS Advertisement

The USS Roosevelt was in the middle of a deployment to the Philippine and South China Seas when the Navy ordered it to cease sail on March 26 after at least 25 crew members tested positive.

In his four-page memo to Navy top brass dated March 30, Crozier warned that the outbreak was 'ongoing and accelerating' due to the ship's 'inherent limitations of space'.

'Removing the majority of personnel from a deployed US nuclear aircraft carrier and isolating them for two weeks may seem like an extraordinary measure,' he wrote.

'This is a necessary risk.'

The massive aircraft carrier, like other Navy ships, is vulnerable to infectious disease spread given its close quarters.

The ship is more than 1,000 feet long; sailors are spread out across a labyrinth of decks linked by steep ladder-like stairs and narrow corridors.

Enlisted sailors and officers have separate living quarters, but they routinely grab their food from crowded buffet lines and eat at tables joined end-to-end.

'None of the berthing aboard a warship is appropriate for quarantine or isolation,' Crozier wrote in the memo.

He said that any infected crew members need to be removed from the ship and isolated for at least two weeks while the vessel is disinfected.

After the memo was made public on Tuesday, Navy officials said they had acknowledged Crozier's request and were working as hard as they could to protect the ship's crew.

Crozier had insisted that every single member of the crew needs to be tested for COVID-19 given the tight quarters on the ship. But as of Wednesday, only about a quarter - 1,273 - had received tests. Pictured: Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Reis McCarthy takes a sailor's temperature aboard the aircraft carrier on March 27

Modly said testing is 'accelerating' but noted that only 200 sailors can be screened per day. Pictured: Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Ernesto Santa Ana prepares a sample for investigational analysis in the Naval Medical Research Center mobile laboratory aboard the aircraft carrier USS Roosevelt on March 27

At Wednesday's press conference, Modly provided the most detailed timeline yet of the outbreak.

He said the first two positive cases were identified and flown out to a Guam hospital last week.

Anyone suspected of being in close contact with the infected sailors were then quarantined. When the ship docked, infected sailors were removed and isolated as the crew continued to track potential cases.

In his letter Crozier said it was impossible to quarantine and isolate crew members on the ship because of space limitations.

The captain and the ship's medical team flagged their concerns about the speed and extent of the response for the first time on Sunday, Modly said.

'Let me emphasize that this is exactly what we want our commanding officers, our medical teams to do,' he said at the press conference.

'We need a lot of transparency in this process, and we want that information to flow up through the chain of command.'

Modly said his chief of staff had been in contact with the captain prior to the letter being published in full by the Chronicle in a move that Chief of Naval Operations Adm Michael Gilday called a 'communications breakdown'.

The USS Roosevelt was in the middle of a deployment to the Philippine and South China Seas when it was ordered it to cease sail on March 26 after 25 crew members tested positive. The ship docked at US Naval Base Guam (above in a file photo)

The USS Roosevelt, like other Navy ships, is vulnerable to infectious disease spread given its close quarters (file photo)

Navy secures 3,000 rooms at hotels near US Naval Base Guam to house sailors who have tested negative for COVID-19

An initial group of 1,000 sailors were evacuated from the USS Roosevelt onto the US Naval Base Guam on Wednesday.

Speaking at a press conference by the base on Thursday, Rear Admiral John Menoni said the sailors who tested positive or were showing flu-like symptoms have been placed in isolation for treatment while the rest of the evacuated sailors were quarantined.

Those who remain asymptomatic and test negative will be transported to vacant hotel space with about 3,000 rooms some eight miles away in Guam's commercial Tumon district, where they will remain quarantined for two weeks, territorial Governor Lourdes Leon Guerrero told Reuters.

The quarantined sailors will be moved to hotel quarters in the next 12 to 24 hours in an operation that will be run entirely by the US military, Menoni said.

Leon Guerrero said some residents of the island, whose tourist-based economy has been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic, had been 'pushing back' against welcoming the stricken aircraft carrier to shore.

But she was assured the sailors would be kept completely isolated from Guam's population.

'These are our sailors who go out in harm's way to protect our security in this part of the world,' she said.

'I feel I have the moral obligation to reciprocate if I could.'

As of Thursday, Leon Guerrero said, Guam had 77 known cases of coronavirus, including three deaths.

The island territory is home to about 160,00 people.

Democratic lawmakers demand answers from Navy leaders as they criticize slow response to the USS Roosevelt outbreak

A number of Democratic lawmakers in the House and Senate have confronted Navy leaders about the handling of the USS Roosevelt outbreak - criticizing how the branch didn't begin large-scale evacuations until after Crozier's letter was leaked.

Virginia Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine penned a letter to Navy officials on Wednesday detailing questions about the service's preparedness for additional outbreaks, including how many COVID-19 tests it has and how much space there is to house crew members on vessels that need to be decontaminated.

More than two dozen Democratic members of the House sent a similar letter to Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly and Chief of Naval Operations Michael M Gilday.

They condemned the speed of the Navy's response to the outbreak on the USS Roosevelt and questioned how much worse the situation would be had Crozier's letter not forced them to intensify containment efforts.

California Rep Jackie Speier, chair of the House Subcommittee on Military Personnel, is one of several Democratic lawmakers who have confronted Navy leaders about the handling of the USS Roosevelt outbreak

The lawmakers also demanded information on steps the Navy is taking to prevent similar incidents from taking place on other Navy vessels, which are vulnerable to outbreaks due to their close quarters.

'Shipboard life, with limited space for social distancing or quarantine, presents unique challenges that exacerbate the infection rate of this virus,' the letter said.

'Unfortunately, we are concerned that current guidance from the Department of Defense has allowed for inconsistent response to the spread of the virus on our ships and submarines.

'With further spread of the virus expected in the coming weeks, it is critical that the Navy, like our states and communities across the nation, take additional steps now to prepare.'

The House Democrats who signed that letter included Reps John Garamendi of Walnut Grove (Sacramento County), Jared Huffman of San Rafael, Navy Reserves veteran Jimmy Panetta of Carmel Valley and Jackie Speier of San Mateo, according to the Chronicle.

As chair of the House Subcommittee on Military Personnel, Speier has requested permission to speak directly with Crozier. Her office said the Pentagon has yet to comply with that request.

Speier expressed concern that the military has been more focused on protocol that fully responding to the pandemic.

'I'm very concerned about the entire population of service members — they all are in close quarters,' Speier told The Chronicle on Wednesday.

'It's a powder keg. If we don't get this right, we are going to have dead service people.'

Huffman addressed the situation in a Facebook Live briefing on Wednesday, confirming that two sailors from his district are on the Roosevelt.

He said he and others have been pressing the Pentagon to be 'more forthcoming' with information.

'What you're hearing about in the media is one aircraft carrier, but we have 70 naval vessels under way around the world, and it is very foreseeable and almost certain that we're going to have COVID-19 outbreaks in many of these ships,' Huffman said. 'So we have got to be far more proactive.'

Crozier called for all infected crew members to be removed from the USS Roosevelt and isolated for at least two weeks while the vessel is disinfected. Pictured: A US Navy crewman monitors on the deck of the warship in international waters off South China Sea in 2018

WHERE ARE AMERICA'S AIRCRAFT CARRIERS? The US has 11 aircraft carriers at present. Sailors on three of those ships have tested positive to coronavirus, raising fears the Navy could become crippled by COVID-19. USS Theodore Roosevelt - In port Currently in port in Guam. More than 100 of its sailors have coronavirus USS Ronald Reagan - In port Currently in Tokyo, Japan. At least two of its sailors have coronavirus USS Carl Vinson - In port Currently in dry dock in Washington state, USA. At least one of its sailors has tested positive to COVID-19 USS Nimitz - In port Docked in Washington state. Working up to its next deployment USS Abraham Lincoln -In port Currently docked in San Diego, following a mission to the Middle East USS Dwight D. Eisenhower - Deployed Currently on deployment in the Middle East USS George Washington - In port Docked in Newport, Viriginia for a scheduled four-year Refueling and Complex Overhaul, due to be completed in 2021 USS John C. Stennis - In port Docked in Norfolk, Virginia for a Refueling and Complex Overhaul, due to be completed in the mid 2020s USS Harry S. Truman - Deployed Currently deployed in the Middle East to support maritime security USS George H.W. Bush - In port In Northfolk, Virginia for a planned 28-month docking USS Gerald R. Ford - In port Commissioned by President Trump in 2017, and expected to be deployed for the first time in 2022 Advertisement

The Roosevelt's docking in Guam left both of the Pentagon's western Pacific aircraft carriers in port, with the USS Ronald Reagan berthed in Japan, also reportedly suffering an unknown number of coronavirus cases.

Modly admitted it was a challenge for US forces' defense readiness.

'Right now the Teddy Roosevelt is a frontline theater in this new battle,' he said.

However, he added, 'If the ship needs to go, if there's a crisis, the ship can go.'

He stressed that the Roosevelt was the only US Navy ship out of 94 deployed at sea that had active Covid-19 cases.

There were scattered cases in vessels that are not deployed, he added, but in each case only in the single digits.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that while the military was following guidance on social distancing and sanitation, the Roosevelt's plight and the broader pandemic was not eroding the US military's war-fighting abilities.

'There seems to be this narrative out there that we should just shut down the entire United States military and address the problem that way. That's not feasible,' he said in the White House.

'We have a mission: our mission is to protect the United States of America and our people. And so we live and work in cramped quarters, whether it's an aircraft carrier, a submarine, a tank, a bomber - it's the nature of our business.'

In Asia, a carrier presence is central to what the Pentagon has identified as a fundamental shift from fighting insurgent and extremist conflicts in the Middle East to a return to 'great power competition'.

That means, principally, a bigger focus on China, including its militarization of disputed areas of the South China Sea.

Both the Roosevelt and the Reagan could be out of action for several weeks as sailors are tested and quarantined, effectively giving China free rein in the region.

The country has two of their own aircraft carriers, including the recently-completed Shandong, rumored to have cost $9billion and stationed at Hainan Island, the country's southernmost point.

The US has 11 aircraft carriers - but two are deployed to the Middle East, and five are in US ports undergoing long-term services and overhauls.

The remaining two are separately docked at ports on the US West Coast following the completion of recent deployments.

The potential crippling of the US Navy in the Pacific is alarming news given escalating tensions between Beijing and Washington in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

The USS Ronald Reagan (pictured) is currently in port in Tokyo after at least two of its sailors tested positive for COVID-19 last week