Qualla: USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71)

USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71): Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sam Trenholme, CC BY-SA 4.0. Brett Crozier sent the email on March 30, 2020. By then more than 100 of his sailors were infected with a new coronavirus the world had only known about for ten weeks, and his ship was tied up at Guam with nowhere to put them. The captain of USS Theodore Roosevelt wrote that he needed the carrier evacuated to save lives. He sent the email to ten Pacific Fleet admirals and captains, including his immediate superior. He did not send it through the encrypted Navy system. He did not send it only up his chain of command. Three days later he was relieved of command. Four days after that, the acting Secretary of the Navy who fired him flew to Guam, gave a profanity-laced speech mocking Crozier to the assembled crew, was heckled, and resigned within hours of the recording leaking to the press. The ship's name was Theodore Roosevelt. The crisis was, in many ways, the kind of moment the 26th president would have recognized.

Image: Sam Trenholme | CC BY-SA 4.0

USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71): The Carter Veto

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit U.S. Navy photo by Paul Farley., Public domain. Her authorization was an act of political reversal. President Gerald Ford cancelled the order for CVN-71 in 1976 and substituted two smaller conventional carriers. President Jimmy Carter then vetoed the Fiscal Year 1979 Defense authorization bill because it included a new Nimitz-...

Image: U.S. Navy photo by Paul Farley. | Public domain

USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71): Rough Rider in the Gulf

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit U.S. Navy photo by Paul Farley., Public domain. Her call sign, "Rough Rider," comes from the volunteer cavalry unit Theodore Roosevelt led up Kettle Hill during the Spanish-American War in 1898. The carrier earned the name in her first combat. On December 28, 1990 she deployed with Carrier Air Wing Eight for Operation Desert S...

Image: U.S. Navy photo by Paul Farley. | Public domain

USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71): 160 Days at Sea

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/U.S. Fifth Fleet, Public domain. Eight days after the September 11 attacks, Theodore Roosevelt deployed again - this time with Carrier Air Wing One. She arrived in the North Arabian Sea on October 15, 2001 and began launching strikes into Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. From the day she left N...

Image: U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/U.S. Fifth Fleet | Public domain

USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71): The Pandemic

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit U.S. Navy photo by Paul Farley., Public domain. On March 24, 2020, three sailors aboard Theodore Roosevelt tested positive for COVID-19. Within a week the number was over 100. On March 30, Captain Crozier sent his email pleading for evacuation. The Navy ordered the carrier emptied with a skeleton crew of 400 to maintain the nu...

Image: U.S. Navy photo by Paul Farley. | Public domain

USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71): Return to Service

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit U.S. Navy photo by Paul Farley., Public domain. In July 2021 the ship was moved from her San Diego homeport to Bremerton, Washington, where she was retrofitted to operate the F-35C Lightning II. About 3,000 sailors and their families moved with her. She left Bremerton for sea trials in March 2023 and eventually returned to San...

Image: U.S. Navy photo by Paul Farley. | Public domain