USS Theodore Roosevelt shifts home to Bremerton

GIG HARBOR — The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt is scheduled to arrive in Bremerton today to begin a planned retrofit after a six-month deployment in the Pacific.

The Navy said approximately 3,000 sailors and their families will relocate from San Diego to Bremerton as part of the homeport shift.

The Nimitz-class carrier will get work on its hull, rudder, and propulsion shaft, as well as an upgrade to some ship-defense weapons systems, computer networks and a retrofit to allow it to handle the new F-35C fighter plane. The Bremerton Naval Shipyard will also add 25 new berthing spaces to the carrier.

Theodore Roosevelt returned to San Diego on May 25, following a six-month deployment conducting maritime security operations in the Indo-Pacific region, where there has been tension with China.

The Roosevelt was in the news in April 2020 after a massive outbreak of coronavirus aboard. At least 1,271 crew members tested positive for the virus, according to the Navy. Twenty-three were hospitalized, four received intensive care and one died during the outbreak, officials said.

In the ensuing uproar, the ship’s captain, Brett Crozier, was relieved of his command, reportedly for complaining to his superiors about the Navy’s slow response to the outbreak. The ship spent two months moored in Guam, with some 1,800 sailors quarantined ashore, according to the Associated Press.