Mercy-class hospital ship
{{Short description|Hospital ship class in use with the United States Navy}}
| {{Infobox ship begin|infobox caption=Mercy-class hospital ship}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}} {{Infobox ship image |Ship image=The hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) June 6, 2012, in Manado, Indonesia, during Pacific Partnership 2012 120606-N-CW427-402.jpg |Ship caption=USNS Mercy in 2012 }} {{Infobox ship class overview |Name=Mercy class |Builders=National Steel and Shipbuilding Company |Operators={{Naval|United States}} |Class before= {{sclass|Haven|hospital ship|4}} |Class after= |Subclasses= |Cost= |Built range= 1974–1976 as {{sclass|San Clemente|oil tanker|1}}s |In service range= |In commission range=1986–present |Total ships building= |Total ships planned= |Total ships completed=2 |Total ships cancelled= |Total ships active=2 |Total ships laid up= |Total ships lost= |Total ships retired= |Total ships preserved= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship type=Hospital ship |Ship displacement={{Convert|69360|LT|t|0|lk=in|abbr=on}} |Ship length={{Convert|894|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{Convert|105|ft|7|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship draft= |Ship propulsion=Two boilers, two GE turbines, one shaft, {{Convert|24500|hp|MW|0|abbr=on}} |Ship speed={{Convert|17.5|kn|lk=in}} |Ship range= |Ship complement=*12 civilian and 58 military during Reduced Operating Status
|Ship time to activate=76 hours |Ship sensors= |Ship EW=
|Ship armour= |Ship aircraft= |Ship aircraft facilities=Helicopter landing deck |Ship notes= }} |
The Mercy class of hospital ships are converted {{sclass|San Clemente|oil tanker|0}} supertankers used by the United States Navy. Originally built in the 1970s by the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, they were acquired by the Navy and converted into hospital ships, coming into service in 1986 and 1987.{{Cite web
|url= http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/tah-19.htm
|title=Mercy class hospital ships
|work=globalsecurity.org
|accessdate=18 September 2010
}}
Mercy class replaced the {{sclass|Haven|hospital ship|1}}s.
The ships are operated by Military Sealift Command and are designed to provide emergency, on-site care for American combatant forces, and also for use in support of disaster relief and humanitarian operations. Each ship contains twelve fully equipped operating rooms, a 1,000-bed hospital facility, radiological services, a medical laboratory, pharmacy, optometry lab, CT scan equipment, and two oxygen-producing plants.
Ships
Two ships of the class were put into service:
- {{Ship|USNS|Mercy|T-AH-19}} (ex SS Worth)
- {{Ship|USNS|Comfort|T-AH-20}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.militaryfactory.com/ships/detail.asp?ship_id=USNS-Comfort-TAH20|title=USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) - History, Specs and Pictures - Navy Warships and Submarines|access-date=2016-11-03}} (ex SS Rose City)
Missions
Stationed in San Diego, California, Mercy primarily operates in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Her inaugural mission in 1987, was a humanitarian cruise to the Philippines and South Pacific. Her first military mission was serving coalition troops in the First Gulf War. The first disaster relief came in the wake of the 2004 tsunami as Operation Unified Assistance. Her latest was in 2013, when she came to the aid of the Philippines, and other nations in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan.
Stationed out of Norfolk, Virginia, Comfort operates primarily in the Caribbean and Latin America. Her first mission was a combat one: serving coalition troops off the coast of Kuwait, during Operation Desert Storm. Her first humanitarian missions both happened in 1994, helping Haitian and Cuban immigrants looking to come to America. In the aftermath of September 11 attacks, Comfort was activated and sent to Manhattan, to provide medical and mental health services. Comfort headed into combat again for Operation Iraqi Freedom. In 2005, she was back saving American citizens following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. In 2010, she undertook another disaster relief mission, in response to an earthquake in Haiti.{{Cite web|url= https://www.navy.com/about/equipment/vessels/hospital-ships.html|title=Navy Hospital Ships- USNS Mercy & USNS Comfort | publisher = Navy |access-date= 2016-09-29}} In May 2015, Comfort was in Kingston, Jamaica.{{Cite news|url= http://jis.gov.jm/united-states-naval-ship-comfort-mercy-class-hospital-ship-provides-medical-services-may-2015-visit-jamaica/|title=United States Naval Ship Comfort, a Mercy-class hospital ship, Provides Medical Services during its May 2015 visit to Jamaica |date=2015-05-22|newspaper=Jamaica Information Service|language=en-US|access-date=2016-10-27}} Once again in 2017, Comfort was deployed to aid American citizens in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.{{Cite news | work = CBS News |url= https://www.cbsnews.com/news/usns-comfort-departs-for-puerto-rico |title= USNS Comfort leaves for Puerto Rico|access-date=2017-10-12}}
In March 2020, the ships were deployed to aid in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Both ships were to function as trauma centers at erstwhile-disused cruise ship terminals in San Pedro and Manhattan. This, at that time, would have been expected to have enabled nearby hospitals to have freed up beds for coronavirus patients.{{cite web
| url =https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/coronavirus/coronavirus-covid-19-navy-hospital-ship-mercy-los-angeles-california/2336306/
| title =Navy Ship Mercy Arrives in the Port of LA to Help Hospitals Strained by Coronavirus
| date =27 March 2020
| website =NBC Los Angeles
| access-date =29 March 2020}}{{cite web
| url =https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/70-000-ton-message-hope-trump-sees-navy-hospital-ship-n1171256
| title ='70,000-ton message of hope': Trump sees off Navy hospital ship as it heads for NYC
| date =28 March 2020
| website =NBC News
| access-date =29 March 2020}} On 21 April, Governor Cuomo told President Trump that Comfort was no longer needed in New York. While docked in the city, she treated 182 patients.{{cite web
| url =https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/coronavirus/cuomo-tells-trump-usns-comfort-no-longer-needed-in-nyc/2384637/
| title =Gov. Cuomo Tells Trump USNS Comfort No Longer Needed in NYC
| date =22 April 2020
| website =NBC New York
| access-date =24 April 2020 }}
Criticism
The Mercy-class ships' size gives them a substantial radar signature that, combined with lack of maneuverability, makes them vulnerable to attack. In theory, this should never occur, as attacking a hospital ship is a war crime under the Hague Convention of 1907, but the ships are left vulnerable to terrorist organizations and other entities that do not follow such established warfare conventions, due to the fact that both ships are outfitted only with defensive weapons. If within a battle fleet they could be vulnerable to missile strikes aimed at the fleet as a whole, and their radar signature could be confused with troop ships, landing ships, helicopter carriers or become a target for weapons that miss or are decoyed away from combatant ships.
In mid-2004 Vice Admiral Michael L. Cowan, the Surgeon General and chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, said that Comfort and Mercy should be retired and that "They're wonderful ships, but they're dinosaurs. They were designed in the '70s, built in the '80s, and frankly, they're obsolete."
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{commons category|Mercy class hospital ships}}
External links
- {{YouTube|KpJvP8djQtk|"This is one of two hospital ships in the Mercy class maintained by the U.S. Navy"}}
{{Mercy class hospital ship}}{{Active ship classes of the United States Navy}}