_in_Hati.jpg)
Ahospital ship is aship designated for primary function as a floatingmedical treatment facility orhospital. Most are operated by themilitary forces (mostlynavies) of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or near war zones.[1] In the 19th century, redundant warships were used as moored hospitals for seamen.
TheSecond Geneva Convention of 1949 prohibits military attacks on hospital ships that meet specified requirements, though belligerent forces have right of inspection and may take patients, but not staff, asprisoners of war.[2][3]
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Hospital ships possibly existed in ancient times. TheAthenian Navy had a ship namedTherapia, and theRoman Navy had a ship namedAesculapius, their names indicating that they may have been hospital ships.[4][5][6]
The earliest British hospital ship may have been the vesselGoodwill, which accompanied aRoyal Navy squadron in the Mediterranean in 1608 and was used to house the sick sent aboard from other ships.[7] However this experiment in medical care was short-lived, withGoodwill assigned to other tasks within a year and her complement of convalescents simply left behind at the nearest port.[8] It was not until the mid-seventeenth century that any Royal Navy vessels were formally designated as hospital ships, and then only two throughout the fleet. These were either hired merchant ships or elderlysixth rates, with the internalbulkheads removed to create more room, and additional ports cut through the deck and hull to increase internal ventilation.[7]
In addition to their sailing crew, these seventeenth century hospital ships were staffed by a surgeon and four surgeon's mates. The standard issue of medical supplies was bandages, soap, needles andbedpans. Patients were offered a bed or rug to rest upon, and given a clean pair of sheets. These early hospital ships were for the care of the sick rather than the wounded, with patients quartered according to their symptoms and infectious cases quarantined from the general population behind a sheet of canvas. The quality of food was very poor. In the 1690s, the surgeon aboardSiam complained that the meat was in an advanced state ofputrefaction, the biscuits were weevil-ridden and bitter, and the bread was so hard that it stripped the skin off patients’ mouths.[7]
Hospital ships were also used for the treatment of wounded soldiers fighting on land. An early example of this was during an English operation to evacuateEnglish Tangier in 1683. An account of this evacuation was written bySamuel Pepys, an eyewitness. One of the main concerns was the evacuation of sick soldiers "and the many families and their effects to be brought off". The hospital shipsUnity andWelcome sailed for England on 18 October 1683, with 114 invalid soldiers and 104 women and children, arriving atThe Downs on 14 December 1683.[9]
The number of medical personnel aboard Royal Navy hospital ships was slowly increased, with regulations issued in 1703 requiring that each vessel also carry sixlandsmen to act as surgical assistants, and four washerwomen. A 1705 amendment provided for a further five malenurses, and requisitions from the era suggest the number of sheets per patient was increased from one to two pairs.[7] On 8 December 1798, unfit for service as a warship,HMS Victory was ordered to be converted to a hospital ship to hold wounded French and Spanish prisoners of war. According toEdward Hasted in 1798, two large hospital ships (also calledlazarettos), (which were the surviving hulks of forty-four gun ships) were moored inHalstow Creek inKent. The creek is an inlet from theRiver Medway and theRiver Thames. The crew of these vessels watched over ships coming to England, which were forced to stay in the creek underquarantine to protect the country from infectious diseases including theplague.[10]
From 1821 to 1870, theSeamen's Hospital Society providedHMSGrampus,HMSDreadnought andHMSCaledonia (later renamedDreadnought) as successive hospital ships moored atDeptford in London.[11] In 1866,HMSHamadryad was moored inCardiff as a seamen's hospital, replaced in 1905 by theRoyal Hamadryad Seamen's Hospital.[12] Other redundant warships were used as hospitals for convicts and prisoners of war.
TheRoyal Navy institutionalised the use of hospital ships during the first half of the nineteenth century. Hospital ships were generally superior in their standard of service and sanitation to the medical provision available at the time for convalescent soldiers. The modern hospital ship began to emerge during theCrimean War in the 1850s. The only military hospital available to the British forces fighting on theCrimean Peninsula was atScutari near theBosphorus. During theSiege of Sevastopol almost 15,000 wounded troops were transported there from the port atBalaklava by a squadron of converted hospital ships.[9]
The first ships to be equipped with genuine medical facilities were thesteamships HMSMelbourne and HMSMauritius, staffed by the Medical Staff Corps and providing services to theBritish expedition to China in 1860. The ships provided relatively spacious accommodation for the patients, and were equipped with an operating theatre. Another early hospital ship wasUSS Red Rover in the 1860s, which aided the wounded soldiers of both sides during theAmerican Civil War.[9]
During theRusso-Turkish War (1877–78), theBritish Red Cross supplied a steel-hulled ship, equipped with modern surgery equipment includingchloroform and otheranaesthetics, andcarbolic acid forantisepsis. Similar vessels accompanied the1882 British invasion of Egypt and aided American personnel during the 1898Spanish–American War.[9]
During asmallpox outbreak in London in 1883, theMetropolitan Asylum Board (MAB) chartered and later purchased from the Admiralty two ships,HMS Atlas andHMS Endymion, and a paddle-steamer,PS Castalia, which were moored in the Thames atLong Reach, nearDartford,[13][14] and remained in service until 1903.[13][15]
Hospital ships were used by both sides in theRusso-Japanese War of 1904–1905.The sighting by the Japanese of the Russian hospital shipOrel, illuminated in accordance withregulations for hospital ships, led to the decisive navalBattle of Tsushima.Orel was retained as a prize of war by the Japanese after the battle.[citation needed]
During World War I and World War II, hospital ships were first used on a massive scale. Manypassenger liners were converted for use as hospital ships.RMS Aquitania andHMHS Britannic were two famous examples of ships serving in this capacity. By the end of the First World War, the British Royal Navy had 77 such ships in service. During theGallipoli Campaign, hospital ships were used to evacuate wounded personnel toEgypt,Malta or England.[16]
Canada operated hospital ships in both world wars. In World War I these included SSLetitia (I) andHMHS Llandovery Castle which was deliberately sunk by a GermanU-boat with great loss of life, despite the hospital ship's clearly marked status. In World War II, Canada operated the hospital shipRMS Lady Nelson andSSLetitia (II).[17]
The first purpose-built hospital ship in the U.S. Navy wasUSS Relief[18] which was commissioned in 1921. During World War II both the United States Navy and Army operated hospital ships though with different purposes.[19] Naval hospital ships were fully equipped hospitals designed to receive casualties direct from the battlefield and also supplied to provide logistical support to front line medical teams ashore.[19] Army hospital ships were essentially hospital transports intended and equipped to evacuate patients from forward area Army hospitals to rear area hospitals or from those to the United States and were not equipped or staffed to handle large numbers of direct battle casualties.[19] Three of the Navy hospital ships,USS Comfort,USS Hope, andUSS Mercy, were less elaborately equipped than other Navy hospital ships, medically staffed by Army medical personnel and similar in purpose to the Army model.[19]
The last Britishroyal yacht, the post World War IIHMY Britannia, was constructed in a way as to be convertible to a hospital ship in wartime. After her decommissioning,Peter Hennessy discovered that her actual role would have been asQueen Elizabeth II'srefuge from nuclear weapons, hiding amidst thelochs of western Scotland.[20]
A development of theLun-class ekranoplan was planned for use as a mobile field hospital for rapid deployment to any ocean or coastal location at a speed of 297 knots (550 km/h, 341.8 mph). Work was 90% complete on this model,Spasatel, but Soviet military funding ceased and it was never completed.
Some hospital ships, such asSS Hope andEsperanza del Mar, belong to civilian agencies, and do not belong to a navy.Mercy Ships is an internationalnon-governmental charity (or NGO).
Hospital ships were covered under theHague Convention X of 1907.[21] Articles of the Hague Convention X specified the provisions for a hospital ship:
According to theSan Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea, a hospital ship violating legal restrictions must be duly warned and given a reasonable time limit to comply. If a hospital ship persists in violating restrictions, a belligerent is legally entitled to capture it or take other means to enforce compliance. A non-complying hospital ship may only be fired on under the following conditions:
In all other circumstances, attacking a hospital ship is awar crime.
Modern hospital ships display largeRed Crosses orRed Crescents to signify theirGeneva Convention protection under thelaws of war. Even so, marked vessels have not been completely free from attack. Notable examples of hospital ships deliberately attacked during wartime areHMHS Llandovery Castle in 1915, theSoviet hospital ship Armenia in 1941, andAHS Centaur in 1943.
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While any ship can be designated and marked as a hospital ship, many ships are permanently dedicated to that function.
| Military hospital ships | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Navy | Ship (class) | Year | Capacity | Capabilities | Image |
Brazil | U15Pará[citation needed] | _1.jpg) | |||
| U16Doutor Montenegro[citation needed] | _moored_in_Vila_das_Pedras%2c_Brazil%2c_on_6_August_2019_(190806-N-DO465-1013).JPG) | ||||
| U18Oswaldo Cruz (Oswaldo Cruz)[citation needed] | 1984 | .jpg) | |||
| U19Carlos Chagas (Oswaldo Cruz)[citation needed] | .jpg) | ||||
| U21Soares de Meirelles[citation needed] | 2009 |  | |||
| U28Tenente Maximiano[citation needed] | 2010 | 2.jpg) | |||
China | Nankang (833) (Qiongsha)[citation needed] | Classed as an "ambulance transport" | |||
| Zhuanghe (865) | 2004 | Classed as a "medical evacuation ship", converted container ship with 14 "medical modules" | |||
| Daishan Dao (866) (Type 920) | 2008 | 300 hospital beds, 20 intensive care beds | 8 operating theatres, X-ray, ultrasound, CT, hypothermia, hemodialysis, traditional Chinese medicine, and dental facilities | _ship_PLA(N)_Peace_Ark_(T-AH_866)_steams_in_close_formation_during_Rim_of_the_Pacific_(RIMPAC)_Exercise_2014.jpg) | |
| Nanyi (12) (Anshen)[citation needed] | 2020 | Classed as a "medium sized hospital ship" | |||
| tba (13) (Anshen)[citation needed] | 2020 | Classed as a "medium sized hospital ship" | |||
Indonesia | KRIdr. Soeharso (990) (Tanjung Dalpele) | 2003 | Former(LPD), capable of receiving up to 2000 patients | 5 operating rooms, 6 polyclinics, 51 medical specialists |  |
| KRIdr. Wahidin Sudirohusodo (991) (Sudirohusodo) | 2021[22] | Full load 7,200 tons, up to 643 personnels, 159 patients, 4 ambulances (OFE), 3 mobile hospitals (OFE), 1 mobile decompression (OFE), 1 mobile X Ray (OFE) as well as 2 LCVP units, 1 RHIB unit and 2 Ambulance Boat units.[23] | 2 ERs, 5 ORs (+ Pre/ Post), ICU, HCU, X-ray & CT-scanner, Pharmacy, 8 Polyclinics, a morgue and Laboratory.[24] | .jpg) | |
| KRIdr. Radjiman Wedyodiningrat (992)[25] (Sudirohusodo) | 2023 | 124 Beds, additional 350 Beds in Emergency Case | 2 ERs, 5 ORs (+ Pre/ Post), ICU, HCU, X-ray & CT-scanner, Pharmacy, 8 Polyclinics, a morgue and Laboratory. | .jpg) | |
Myanmar | UMSShwe Pu Zun | 2012 | 25 | 1 CT scanner, 1 minor eye operation room, 1 minor operation theater, 1 major operation theater, and 1 intensive care unit[26][27] | |
| UMSThanlwin | 2015 | 25 | 1 CT scanner, 1 minor eye operation room, 1 minor operation theater, 1 major operation theater, and 1 intensive care unit[26][27] | ||
Peru | BAP Puno | 1976 | Converted 1861 steamship, found onLake Titicaca | _(5690588618).jpg) | |
Russia | Yenisey (Ob) | 1981 | 100 | 7 operating rooms | .jpg) |
| Svir (Ob) | 1989 | 100 | 7 operating rooms | ||
| Irtysh (Ob) | 1990 | 100 | 7 operating rooms |  | |
United States | USNS Mercy (Mercy) | 1986 | 1,000 | 12 operating rooms, digital radiological services, a medical laboratory, a pharmacy, an optometry lab, an intensive care ward,dental services, aCT scanner, amorgue, 2 oxygen-producing plants |  |
| USNS Comfort (Mercy) | 1987 | 1,000 | 12 operating rooms, digital radiological services, a medical laboratory, a pharmacy, an optometry lab, an intensive care ward,dental services, aCT scanner, amorgue, 2 oxygen-producing plants | _is_anchored_off_the_coast_of_La_Brea%2c_Trinidad_and_Tobago._(48677005558).jpg) | |
Vietnam | Khánh Hòa - 01 (Hospital Ship 561)[28] | 2013 | 200 | Operating room with satellite connected, intensive care, pressure isolation room, medical laboratory, treatment room, defibrillator room, dental service, Endoscopic room, pharmacy, radiology. | |
| Agency/NGO | Ship (class) | Year | Capacity | Capabilities | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mercy Ships | MV Africa Mercy | Converted 2007 | 82 | 5operating theaters, 1 intensive care unit, 1 ophthalmic unit, aCT scanner,x-ray, laboratories[29] |  |
| MV Global Mercy | 2022 | 199 | 6 operating theatres, 102 acute care beds, 7 ICU beds, and 90 self-care beds. The hospital also features dedicated classroom spaces and simulator labs with state-of-the-art technology for enhanced training of local medical professionals.[30] |  | |
Ministry of Labour (Spain) | Esperanza del Mar | 2001 | 17 | 1 operating theatre, ICU facility |  |
| Juan de la Cosa [Wikidata] | 2006 | 10 | 1 operating theatre, ICU facility |  |
It is common for naval ships, especially large ships such asaircraft carriers andamphibious assault ships to have on-board hospitals. However, they are only one small part of the vessel's overall capability, and are used primarily for the ship's crew and its amphibious forces (and occasionally for relief missions). A warship with hospital facilities does not have the protected status of a hospital ship.[31]A primary example of the varied military-based hospital services available at sea is found aboard several types of US naval ships;
_underway_in_the_South_China_Sea_on_8_May_2006_(060508-N-4166B-030).jpg)
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More examples from various other national navies include;
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.
Media related toHospital ships at Wikimedia Commons
