Navy’s oldest operational warship breaks its days-at-sea record

The Navy’s oldest operational warship has broken its record for the most days at sea, the military branch said Thursday.

The USS Blue Ridge has been at sea for 69 days as of Thursday, the Navy said in a statement, breaking its previous record, set 48 years ago, of 64 days at sea during the Vietnam War. 

The ship has been at sea so long to avoid anyone on board contracting the coronavirus.

“These times are uniquely challenging for the entire world, but it takes an extremely dedicated crew to maintain this old of a ship at sea for this long,” Capt. Craig Sicola, commander of the Blue Ridge, said in the statement. 

The USS Theodore Roosevelt, a Navy aircraft carrier that had been docked in Guam since March 27 due to a coronavirus outbreak, is back at sea, the Navy said late Wednesday. 

The ship left Naval Base Guam and entered the Philippine Sea “to conduct carrier qualification flights,” basic drills that will allow the crew to ramp up use of the carrier after 55 days away from sea. 

Updated at 11:43 a.m.