FRIDAY FOTO (June 12, 2020)

Back at Work Again.

(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Dylan Lavin)

F/A-18 Super Hornets fly in formation over the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt during operations in the Philippine Sea on June 9, 2020.

The TR, as the Nimitz-class, nuclear powered carrier is known, was the first U.S. Navy warship to endure an outbreak of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 while at sea.

After several Sailors tested positive for the virus, the ship pulled into Guam on March 27 and was sidelined there for more than two months. Most of the nearly 5,000 crew members were transferred off the ship — either to hospitals for treatment, or isolation in barracks and hotels on the island.

Before the ordeal was over, more than 1,100 Sailors were sickened and one died. A political firestorm sprang up when the skipper’s letter to Navy leaders seeking a quicker response to the crisis was leaked to the press. That led to the captain being relieved of command and the resignation of the acting Navy Secretary who fired him.

The TR returned to sea May 21 with a partial crew for a shakedown cruise to re-certify the carrier’s air wing and flight deck operations. After returning to pick up the rest of the crew, who now tested negative for COVID-19, the TR departed Guam on June 4 to resume its mission in the Asia-Pacific region.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt flies a replica of Capt. Oliver Hazard Perry’s “Don’t Give Up the Ship” flag, while leaving Guam after battling a COVID-19 global outbreak for more than two months. (U.S. Navy photo by Naval Air Crewman 1st Class Will Bennett)