USS America 19-20

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At the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus, I am aboard USS America (LHA-6) homeported in Sasebo, Japan. We are at sea for a routine patrol when the crew becomes generally aware of some sort of flu or virus that is hitting, I recall an email from home that everyone is wiping down groceries and that most of the country will be doing some sort of semi-quarantine period. Our skipper (captain of the ship) announces over the 1MC (ship's speakers) that Thailand does not have many cases of whatever is going around, and that we will be making a liberty port as scheduled in the country for the "Cobra Gold" exercise, which is a joint exercise with the Royal Thai Marines. We pull in to Pattaya, Thailand and enjoy about a week or so of liberty, there are no masks or guidelines in place, and it was an incredible experience. I visited a local zoo and held a baby lion, I pet an elephant, and enjoyed local cuisine (extensively). Upon shipping back out to sea, skipper once again comes on the 1MC to announce that further port calls will be cancelled as the virus we are loosely aware of seems to be more serious than we all thought. Big news hits when the USS Theodore Roosevelt's entire crew is hit by COVID, forcing one of our 11 aircraft carriers to make emergency port in Guam. This led to my ship taking over as the only flattop in 7th fleet (the Pacific), as I believe the Reagan is in the Arabian Gulf at the time (I could be misremembering). To even be allowed to pull in to Okinawa for fuel and supplies, we have to cut masks for the entire crew out of brown uniform undershirts to meet local requirements about masking. The whole crew felt isolated from COVID at this time, it is a foreign concept we only understand from tidbits of information from family over emails, and official guidance coming down from our chain of command. Eventually as it progressed and we return to our homeport of Sasebo, and reality sets in. Severe restrictions are applied, such as being barred from leaving base except to travel to your residence if you had an off post apartment (most of us did not have this), and the morale of the crew collapsed. The restrictions, of course, were ineffective, often contradictory, and usually at the expense of the individual seemingly for show. The story only comes up in conversations with people discussing the initial outbreak, because I did not really participate until months later.

March 2020

Victor Smoke

HST643

Arizona State University

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Thailand

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07/24/2025