I was dismayed to hear of the COVID-19 outbreak on the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71). I know from experience that it is impossible to keep any kind of “social distance” when you are in the Navy. I learned this when I served during the Vietnam War. In Boot Camp we were told to line up “nuts to butts”. That was close enough for me.
The barracks were crowded but nothing like being on a ship. I can see how a virus would spread through the ranks. We had shots for everything before our WestPac tour. I had a shot for plague, polio, yellow fever and other stuff. All the shots were given at once which led to some interesting side effects. I was sweating and freezing and hurting. I deadened the pain with a few black russians at the Enlisted Man club.
We slept in bunks stacked in threes. My bunk was number 64. There was a small partition between adjacent bunks so we didn’t breath into each others face. We were at Yankee Station in the South China Sea and it was hotter than hell. The living quarters were quite aromatic.
Queuing Up
I think I might have spent at least a year of my four year stint waiting in line. I stood in line for meals, for showers, for pay and for the vaccines. I read several novels in the chow line which snaked along the hangar deck. So much for maintaining a six foot buffer zone.
I had the opportunity to see how many men were on the ship when we had a visit from Miss America on a USO tour. The sailors crowded the flight deck and cat walks.
The Crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt
The crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt won’t be getting a visit from Miss America. I’m getting the feeling that they are not going to get the proper care. The entire ship should be anchored and evacuated with just a skeleton crew in protective to operate the nuclear reactor. They are administering these inadequate tests which don’t yield results for days. I fear it has become political with the military not wanting to admit that they are vulnerable. The pawns in this drama will be my fellow sailors. I wish them health.
“We are not at war,” the captain of the carrier Theodore Roosevelt wrote. “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.” – New York Times 03/31/2020
Love your shots. You have photo processing on board at the time?
No, these photos were all taken in on film in 1970. They deteriorated over the years so I used Lightroom to clean them up. Thanks for reading.
“Navy Removes Captain of Aircraft Carrier Stricken by Coronavirus”
New York Times – https://nyti.ms/3aFqsbg