11:03 mins
This is One of Two Hospital Ships in the Mercy-Class Maintained by the U.S. Navy
124,542 views Jul 10, 2018
U.S. Defense System
Detailing the development and operational history of the USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) Medical Support Vessel.
The USNS Comfort is one of two hospital ships in the Mercy-class maintained by the United States Navy. Hospital ships in service with the USN were originally assigned two mission sets that continue to this day: firstly, they serve as a large, mobile floating medical facility that provides surgical acute care in support of US military forces when operating in hostile theaters; secondly, their mission is to serve as a floating hospital for use by a number of government-supported agencies in assistance to victims of natural disasters while also providing international humanitarian relief. Comfort makes her home in port at Baltimore, Maryland, while her sister ship, USNS Mercy, is docked on the West Coast.
Comfort was originally built as an oil super tanker in 1976 in San Diego, California, and christened the SS Rose City. When purchased and delivered to the US Navy in 1987, instead of being used as an oil tanker, she was put into the yard and converted to a hospital ship as the second of such in the Mercy-class. The ship is adorned with large red crosses to distinctly and obviously paint her purpose while protecting her crew and human cargo against attack in hostile situations. The Geneva Convention protects such hospital ships if they carry no munitions or weapons and any country that fires on them is charged with an international war crime.
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