. WASHINGTON (Tribune News Service) — A year ago, the Navy encountered a formidable new adversary that appeared capable of crippling the service’s ability to deploy its fleet. It wasn’t China or Russia or terrorist organizations, all of which have been at the forefront of military thinking for the past decade. Rather, the adversary was the fast-spreading and deadly COVID-19 pandemic. But thanks to strenuous efforts to mitigate the impact of the virus on ships and submarines, largely put into place after a shipboard outbreak sidelined an aircraft carrier, the Navy has maintained an ambitious tempo of operations and kept its assets deployed as it saw fit.