page_title: COVID-19 pandemic on naval ships
section_title: USNS Leroy Grumman
hierarchical_section_title: COVID-19 pandemic on naval ships / United States / USNS Leroy Grumman
caption_attribution_description: English: Persian Gulf (Feb. 19, 2006) - The amphibious dock landing ship USS Carter Hall (LSD 50), front, receives supplies from an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter during a vertical replenishment (VERTREP) with the Military Sealift Command (MSC) combat store ship USNS Niagara Falls (T-AFS 3), as the British Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship RFA Bayleaf (A 109) approaches the USS Nassau (LHA 4) for a replenishment at sea (RAS). Carter Hall and Nassau are currently on a regularly scheduled deployment conducting maritime security operations (MSO). MSO sets the conditions for security and stability in the maritime environment as well as complement the counter-terrorism and security efforts of regional nations. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 2nd Class Michael J. Sandberg (RELEASED)
context_page_description: The COVID-19 pandemic spread to many military ships. The nature of these ships, which includes working with others in small enclosed areas and a lack of private quarters for the vast majority of crew, contributed to the rapid spread of the disease, even more so than on cruise ships.
  Due to the nature of operations security, national militaries may have policies in place that prevent or restrict reporting of SARS-CoV-2 infections and COVID-19 deaths, so although the cases listed below may have been widely reported in reliable sources, confirmation by official spokespeople of the respective militaries is not systematic.
context_section_description: On 30 April 2020, USNI News reported that two civilian mariners on American fleet replenishment oiler USNS Leroy Grumman had been infected with the virus.  The ship had been docked in Boston since January for scheduled maintenance by Boston Ship Repair until the end of May.  The source of the infection was unclear, but a spokesperson for Military Sealift Command (MSC) stated that there were outside contractors at the shipyard who had tested positive earlier.
  By 5 May, 18 sailors had tested positive, including the ship's medic.  About 50 people were on board and all were placed under quarantine.
  On 19 May 2020, the Project On Government Oversight and The Daily Beast reported that 22 crew members and 30 contractors had tested positive for the virus, and that a 60-year-old contractor who worked in the engine room had died of the virus.  In addition, it was reported that mariners had complained about how MSC was "being reactive rather than proactive", and that, despite the issuance of a gangway up order that required all civilian mariners on leave to return to the ship and prevented all mariners from leaving the ship, contractors and other personnel were allowed to embark and disembark with virtually no restrictions, except for random temperature checks and a self-report questionnaire.  The ship was eventually vacated on May 8 for seven days.
  On 21 May 2020, a civilian mariner was declared dead due to complications of the virus.  He was hospitalized on 30 April 2020, and was placed on a ventilator in an ICU on 04 May 2020.  The deceased was the first civilian mariner to die of the virus on an MSC ship.
caption: USS Carter Hall in 2006
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