Navy’s Oldest Warship Breaks Its Days-At-Sea Record While Avoiding Virus

We previously reported that amid the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on military ranks, the US Navy began keeping warships with crew deemed “clean” — that is, completely free of coronavirus cases — deployed for an additional length of time with no port calls and no deployment end date amid a worsening crisis aboard other ships.

Currently the US has multiple warships out at sea with no ‘return to shore’ dates. And now The Hill reports based on Navy statements, “The Navy’s oldest operational warship has broken its record for the most days at sea, the military branch said Thursday.”

The Pentagon wished to avoid another USS Theodore Roosevelt disaster of course, which US rivals and China and Russia kept a close eye on, no doubt taking note of just how quickly a state-of-the-art nuclear carrier was taken out by the virus.

The concern is simply that a return to shore brings greater exposure for the uninfected crew to become infected. The Navy said in its statement that the USS Blue Ridge has been at sea for 69 days as of Thursday. The previous record of 64 days was set during the Vietnam war, nearly 50 years ago.

The Blue Ridge is classified as naval command and control amphibious ship, and is the oldest operational ship in the Navy.

The official statement explained: 

Blue Ridge’s previous record of 64 days was set during the Vietnam War when she left port April 5, 1972 and stayed at sea in and around the Gulf of Tonkin until June 2, 1972, when she moored in the Philippines.

The 2020 Blue Ridge patrol changed with the outbreak of COVID-19. The ship and crew have spent 65 consecutive days underway, and counting, an unusual length of time for a ship well-known for its frequent port visits.

“These times are uniquely challenging for the entire world, but it takes an extremely dedicated crew to maintain this old of a ship at sea for this long,” Blue Ridge commander, Capt. Craig Sicola, commander of the Blue Ridge, said in the statement. 

The Blue Ridge has been conducting operations in the Philippine Sea for much of this month, again with no return date scheduled whatsoever.