USS Roosevelt Fiasco

Searched last night to find out who made the decision to go into Danang, and found a discussion of the decision in a Naval Institute publication. The CNO said the decision was made by the Indo-Pacific commander. So the latter may have to fall on his sword as well. This would be a possible way to end the story from the point of view of Esper, Pompeo, Stilwell, and O'Brien who were the civilian leadership so gung ho on the South China Sea port call when the epidemic was ongoing in the region just so they could poke a thumb in Xi's eye.

The CNO said Adm. Davidson, Indo-Pacific Commander decided on the Danang port call on Mar. 6:

UPDATED: 8 Sailors on USS Theodore Roosevelt Have COVID-19; Port Calls Canceled as Navy Investigates Outbreak
By: Megan Eckstein
March 24, 2020 4:23 PM • Updated: March 26, 2020 8:30 AM

…“In the case of the carrier, she was last in port 15 days ago, but I think it would be difficult to tie down these active cases to that particular port visit. We’ve had aircraft flying to and from the ship, and so we just don’t want to say it was that particular port visit.We took great precautions when that crew came back from that shore period to do enhanced medical screening of the crew,” Gilday told reporters today in the Pentagon….

…“At that particular time when the decision was made in late February or early March to pull the ship into Da Nang, which is on the central coast – at that time there were only 16 positive cases in Vietnam, and those were well to the north, all isolated in Hanoi. And so this is a very risk-informed decision by actually the INDO-PACOM commander Adm. Davidson on whether or not we would proceed with that port visit,” Gilday said.

news.usni.org/2020/03/24/3-sailors-on-uss-theodore-roosevelt-have-covid-19-port-calls-canceled-as-navy-investigates-outbreak


So they admit they took a risk and claim it was an informed risk. It's total nonsense. Ass covering. Here is a more or less contemporaneous rationalization which was made before the positive covid cases started showing up on the Roosevelt:

The port call of the Theodore Roosevelt has already helped to deepen bilateral trust. Six thousand sailors visiting a nation adjacent to the epicenter of the ongoing coronavirus health crisis certainly stimulated a debate in both Hanoi and Washington about proceeding with the visit. Both countries have legitimate health concerns. For its part, the United States Pacific Fleet has directed its ships to remain at sea for 14 days following a foreign port call in Asia to identify any spread of the contagion. The easiest and safest choice would be to for one side or the other to have postponed this significant event...

https://thediplomat.com/2020/03/even-coronavirus-couldnt-stop-the-2nd-us-carrier-visit-to-vietnam/

The latest report is that there are currently over 200 confirmed cases,* and the ship is off it's operational schedule which never looks good on any command's record.

*https://www.businessinsider.com/timeline-aircraft-carrier-coronavirus-outbreak-navy-developments-2020-4