USNS Comfort (T-AH-20)

USNS *Comfort*
	The Comfort off Haiti, 2009
Ship data
flag	United States
other ship names	Rose City;
Ship type	Hospital ship
class	San Clemente Class ( Mercy Class )
Callsign	NCOM
home port	Naval Station Norfolk
Owner	United States Navy
Shipyard	National Steel and Shipbuilding Company , San Diego
Keel laying	5th January 1975
Launch	February 1, 1976
Whereabouts	in motion
Ship dimensions and crew
length	272 m ( Lüa )
width	32.18 m
displacement	70,470 t
Machine system
Top ; speed	17 kn (31 km / h)
Others
Registration ; numbers	IMO 7390478

The USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) is a hospital ship of the US Navy .

It is the third ship to be named Comfort ("consolation") and the second ship of the Mercy class . She is a United States Naval Ship (USNS) in the service of the US Navy. Like her sister ship Mercy , the Comfort was originally built as an oil tanker . She was launched in 1976 under the name Rose City as one of 13 San Clemente class tankers at the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO) in San Diego .

After being converted for medical use, it was handed over to the Navy on December 1, 1987 and has since had IMO number 7390478 and the callsign NCOM. According to the Geneva Conventions, there is no offensive armament on board the Comfort . Any weapons on board may only be used to protect staff and patients. Shelling the Comfort would be a war crime .

Comfort inserts

Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm

During Operation Desert Storm , the Comfort was located near Kuwait off the coast of Saudi Arabia near Khafji . On March 12, 1991, the Comfort started its return voyage and reached its home port of Baltimore on April 15, 1991. On the more than 35,000 miles (65,000 km) long mission, the Comfort consumed around 11 million liters of fuel. More than 8,000 patients received outpatient care and 700 were admitted as inpatients. There were 337 surgeries.

Operation Sea Signal

In 1994, Comfort took in refugees from Haiti and acted as a floating immigration agency.

Operation Uphold Democracy

In September 1994 the Comfort was sent to the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay to care for intensive care patients of the 35,000 Cuban and Haitian refugees.

Operation Noble Eagle

Comfort passes the Statue of Liberty on her way to Manhattan

On the afternoon of September 11, 2001 , the Comfort was alerted and sailed the next day to serve as a 250-bed clinic at Pier 92 in Midtown Manhattan . 561 patients received medical treatment; 500 emergency services received psychological support.

Operation Iraqi Freedom

The Comfort received its operational order on December 26, 2002 and ran out on January 6, 2003. After a stopover in Diego Garcia , during which she took additional medical personnel on board, she drove on to the Persian Gulf and stayed there for 56 days. She returned to Baltimore on June 12, 2003 with a record of 590 surgeries, 600 blood transfusions, more than 8,000 x-rays and almost 700 patients treated, including around 200 Iraqi civilians and enemy prisoners of war.

Joint Task Force Katrina

After two days of preparation, the Comfort left on September 2, 2005 to support the relief efforts on the Gulf Coast after the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina .

Operation Continuing Promise

This Comfort humanitarian mission began on June 15, 2007 and was an integral part of President Bush's initiative to "Advancing the Cause of Social Justice in the Western Hemisphere". The Comfort visited twelve Central American, South American and Caribbean countries, where their medical staff provided free health services for the needy. They treated more than 98,000 patients and operated 1,100 times.

2010 Haiti earthquake

On January 13, 2010, the Comfort received an order to assist with relief efforts following an earthquake in Haiti . On January 21, the ship arrived at Port-au-Prince and took in between 200 and 300 patients a day who were flown to Comfort with helicopters of the US Navy because they could not dock in the port and thus also space for ships with relief supplies kept free. On March 10, 2010, the Comfort ended its mission after 843 operations and nine children had been born on board.

Hurricanes in Puerto Rico 2017

On September 29, 2017, the Comfort sailed from its home port in Norfolk for Puerto Rico to support disaster relief on the island, which was completely devastated by Hurricane Maria . The Trump administration has been heavily criticized for leaving the ship so late.

COVID-19 pandemic in New York 2020

In March 2020, the Comfort was sent to New York to relieve the city's hospitals as part of the COVID-19 pandemic . However, no patients infected with COVID-19 should be treated on the ship itself. She arrived in New York on March 30th, and left the city again on May 1st, 2020.

facts and figures

Captain Dean Bradford welcomes Princess Anne on 11 July 2002 when his ship in Southampton is located

Patient capacity:
- Intensive ward: 80 beds
- Convalescent ward: 20 beds
- Intermediate care ward: 280 beds
- Easy maintenance: 120 beds
- Limited care: 500 beds
- Total capacity: 1,000 beds
- Operating theaters: 12
Departments and facilities:
- emergency department
- Intensive care unit
- radiology
- Laboratory and satellite laboratory
- Central sterile acceptance
- Medical warehouse / pharmacy
- Physical therapy and care for burns
- Dentistry
- Optometry / lens laboratory
- Morgue
- laundry
- Oxygen Generator (2)
- Medical photography
- Four distillation plants for the production of drinking water from sea water (approx. 1100 cubic meters per day)
- Flight deck for large helicopters ( CH-53D , CH-53E, MH-53E, Mi-17 )

Web links

Commons : USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) - Collection of pictures, videos, and audio files

Footnotes

↑ USNS COMFORT (T-AH 20). In: Naval Vessel Register . US Navy , accessed March 31, 2020 .
↑ USNS Comfort (T-AH-20). Military Hospital Ship / Support Vessel. In: militaryfactory.com. Accessed March 31, 2020 (English).
^ Diplomatic Conference of Geneva of 1949 Chapter III: Hospital ships, Article 35 - Conditions not Depriving Hospital Ships of Protection. Retrieved April 2, 2020 .
^ Hospital Ship Receives Humanitarian Medal for Sept. 11 Mission.
↑ Lance M. Bacon: USS Carl Vinson and 6 Other Ships Head to Haiti to Provide Aid. In: navydads.com. January 13, 2010, accessed March 31, 2020 .
^ Idrees Ali: US Navy to deploy hospital ship Comfort to hurricane-battered Puerto Rico. In: Reuters . September 28, 2017, accessed March 31, 2020 .
↑ Christoph Seidler: Corona crisis: hospital ship “USNS Comfort” is supposed to bring help to New York. In: Der Spiegel . March 31, 2020, accessed March 31, 2020 .
^ Hospital ship USNS Comfort has left New York

[vessel-1] USNS COMFORT (T-AH 20). In: Naval Vessel Register . US Navy , accessed March 31, 2020 .

[militaryfactory-2] USNS Comfort (T-AH-20). Military Hospital Ship / Support Vessel. In: militaryfactory.com. Accessed March 31, 2020 (English).

[3] Diplomatic Conference of Geneva of 1949 Chapter III: Hospital ships, Article 35 - Conditions not Depriving Hospital Ships of Protection. Retrieved April 2, 2020 .

[4] Hospital Ship Receives Humanitarian Medal for Sept. 11 Mission.

[5] Lance M. Bacon: USS Carl Vinson and 6 Other Ships Head to Haiti to Provide Aid. In: navydads.com. January 13, 2010, accessed March 31, 2020 .

[6] Idrees Ali: US Navy to deploy hospital ship Comfort to hurricane-battered Puerto Rico. In: Reuters . September 28, 2017, accessed March 31, 2020 .

[7] Christoph Seidler: Corona crisis: hospital ship “USNS Comfort” is supposed to bring help to New York. In: Der Spiegel . March 31, 2020, accessed March 31, 2020 .

[8] Hospital ship USNS Comfort has left New York