Pentagon chief hypes unmatched power of the US Navy with photo of an aircraft carrier hobbled by COVID-19

• Secretary of Defense Mark Esper shared a photo of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt in a tweet championing the unmatched strength of the US Navy.
• The aircraft carrier has been sidelined in Guam for over a month due to a COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus outbreak that shook not only the ship and its crew but also the Navy.
• The situation with the Theodore Roosevelt called attention to a number of problems within the Navy, challenges that are still being addressed.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

A Wednesday tweet from the secretary of defense about the unmatched strength of the US Navy featured an image of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, whose deployment was upended by the coronavirus.

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper tweeted that "no other power on earth can match the capabilities and reach of the United States Navy."

The photo in the secretary's tweet is one of the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group from January, early in its Pacific deployment. In March, the TR, nicknamed the "Big Stick," was sidelined by a serious coronavirus outbreak that the Navy is still working to remedy.

Insider asked the Pentagon why the photo of the carrier was selected but has not yet received a response.

The Navy is no longer providing updates on the status of the TR, but as of the last detailed update on April 30, the ship was dealing with 1,102 active cases among the roughly 4,800 sailors assigned to the carrier.

The aircraft carrier has been stuck for more than a month in Guam, where the majority of the crew was moved ashore. Sailors have started returning to the ship, but it will still be some time before it is ready to once again get underway.

The coronavirus outbreak on the Theodore Roosevelt, which claimed the life of one sailor, rocked the sea service.

As the service attempted to portray strength, a letter from the ship's commanding officer warning of a dire situation aboard the TR leaked to the press. The ship's captain was relieved of his command, and days later, amid a worsening situation, the acting Navy secretary who fired him resigned.

The Navy is currently investigating what happened with the carrier, and on Monday, Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General announced that it would also be looking into how the Navy is responding to outbreaks aboard ships.

Speaking to the Senate Armed Services Committee last week, Kenneth Braithwaite, the nominee for Navy secretary, said that the "Department of the Navy is in troubled waters."

He called attention to the "failings of leadership, saying, "Whether [Glenn Defense Marine Asia], ship collisions, judicial missteps or the crisis on USS [Theodore] Roosevelt, they are all indicative of a breakdown in the trust of those leading the service."

As the Navy continues its fight against the coronavirus and works to get the TR ready to sail, the service has attempted to project strength on social media.

Over the weekend, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday tweeted that six of the Navy's carriers are presently at sea. The tweet followed an earlier tweet announcing that every forward-deployed submarine in the Pacific is also at sea.

Some of those carriers are not actually ready for deployment yet, such as the first-in-class USS Gerald R. Ford, which is still undergoing sea trials.

While the Navy has had problems with the coronavirus on several of its ships, it has noted in recent updates that none of the ships currently deployed have reported cases.

The Pentagon has repeatedly stressed that the US remains ready despite setbacks caused by the coronavirus.

"Even with the challenges that this disease has brought to our shores, the Department of Defense stands ready to meet any threat and defend our nation," Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquist said last month.