HOSPITAL

SHIPS

registration number: 15102888

student : refaat ibrahim

Dr.ABBAS QUTB

ENG.TAREk mohamed
ABSTRACT :

A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary

function as a floating medical treatment facility or
hospital. Most are operated by the military forces
of various countries, as they are intended to be
used in or near war zones.

2 | Page
ITRODUCTION
A hospital ship is designed primarily as a floating hospital. They are operated by the
Naval forces of different countries and can be used in or near war zones. As per the
Second Geneva Convention, hospital ships are supposed to provide medical assistance
to the wounded personnel of all nationalities and not be used for any military purpose or
be interfered by any enemy ship. They are protected from war. As per the San Remo
Manual on International Law applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea, 1994, 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. Hospital ships are required to
display large red crosses or red crescents to signify their Geneva Convention protection
under the laws of war.Many British hospital ships were destroyed or damaged by the
enemy during theFirst World War (WWI). For example, the hospital ship Rohilla was
sunk near Whitby when evacuating wounded troops.

3 | Page
GENERAL FEATURES
This ships could be oil tankers or passenger ship turned
to floating hospitals or built to be hospital ship
Features that must be available
 Casualty reception
 Intensive care unit
 Radiological services
 Main laboratory plus satellite lab
 Central sterile receiving
 Medical supply/pharmacy
 Physical therapy and burn care
 Dental services
 Optometry/lens lab
 Morgue
 Laundry
 Oxygen producing plants (two)
 Medical Photography
 distilling plants to make drinking water from sea
water

4 | Page
If the hospital ship is military ship

Hospital ships have a special status - this

special status is internationally recognized
under the Second Geneva Convention of
1906 and the Hague Convention of 1907.

<1>>

Specific restrictions on a hospital ship are

included in Article 4 of The Hague
Convention X:

The ship must be clearly marked and lit

as a hospital

The ship must provide medical assistance

The ship must not be used for any

military purpose

The ship must not interfere with or hinder

enemy combat ships

Combat parties, as defined by the Hague Convention, can investigate violations of

the above restrictions

The combatants will establish the hospital ship site

The agreement also stipulated that during times of war,

hospital ships would be exempt from the dues and taxes
imposed on ships at the ports of countries that ratified the
treaty.

5 | Page
FUNCTION AND MISSION

 It was used in wars to evacuate and treat

injured soldiers from the front to the front
lines

 Used in disasters like the

Corona virus in America

 Used as a mobile hospital

to reach developing and
poor countries for the
provision of humanitarian
and medical assistance

6 | Page
Hospital Ships in the World War I
and II
During WW I and WW II, passenger ships were
converted for use as hospital ships and were started
to be used on a massive scale. RMS Aquitania and
HMHS Britannic were two famous examples of
hospital ships used extensively. In WW I, hospital
ships were mainly used to transport sick and
wounded military personnel from the theaters of
operations to the hospital facilities, and in WW II,
their use was based on who operated them as the
Navy was not the sole authority to operate hospital
ships, and for a time, the army also operated them
to transport the wounded. The Navy and Army
operated hospital ships with different purposes -
Navy hospital ships were fully equipped hospitals
designed to receive casualties direct from the
battlefield and also supplied logistical support to
frontline medical teams ashore, while Army hospital HMS Melbourne, the first modern hospital ship,
ships were essentially equipped to evacuate patients served during the Second Opium War. Excerpt
from The Illustrated London News about the
from forward area Army hospitals to rear area ship
hospitals (or from those to the home port) and were
not equipped or staffed to handle large numbers of
direct battle casualties.[5] The first purposely built
hospital ship in the US Navy was the USS Relief which
was commissioned in 1921

HMHS Aquitania in World War I service as a

hospital ship

RMS Mauretania as hospital ship

HMHS Mauretania during World War I

7 | Page
USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) And
USNS Mercy (T-AH-19)

This is the USNS Comfort, which, along with its sister ship, the Mercy, is the 
largest hospital ship in the world. The twin ships are actually oil tankers­
turned­floating hospitals 

8 | Page
9 | Page
Patient capacity:

Intensive care wards: 80 beds

Recovery wards: 20
beds

Intermediate care
wards: 280 beds

Light care wards: 120

beds

Limited care wards:

500 beds

Total Patient Capacity:

1000 beds

Operating Rooms: 12

Departments
Dental services
and facilities:
Optometry/lens lab
Casualty reception
Morgue
Intensive care unit
Laundry
Radiological services
Oxygen producing plants (two)
Main laboratory plus satellite lab
Medical Photography
Central sterile receiving
Four distilling plants to make
Medical supply/pharmacy drinking water from sea water
Physical therapy and burn care (300,000 US gallons (1,100,000 l;
250,000 imp gal) per day

10 | P a g e
General characteristics
Displacement: 69,360 tons
Length: 894 ft (272 m)
Beam: 105 ft 7 in (32.18 m)
Draft: 33 ft (10 m)
Propulsion: two boilers, two GE turbines, one shaft,
24,500 hp (18.3 MW)
Speed: 17.5 knots (20.1 mph; 32.4 km/h)
Capacity: 1000 patient beds
Complement: 63 civilian, 956 naval hospital staff, 258
naval support staff
Time to activate: 5 days
Aviation facilities: A flight deck that can handle military
helicopter
The closest mission to the USNS Comfort and
the USNS Mercy

 At 10AM ET on March 30th,

the US Navy’s gigantic
floating hospital ship, the
USNS Comfort, arrived in
New York City where it has
been sent to help relieve the
pressure on the city’s hospitals that are
overwhelmed with coronavirus patients.
 Similar to the Comfort's mission on the East Coast,
the USNS Mercy arrived in Los
Angeles on Friday. The ship
accepted its first patients on
Sunday, receiving referrals
from local hospitals, the
Pentagon says.

USNS Mercy (T-AH-19)

 Africa Mercy
The MV Africa Mercy is a hospital ship belonging to the humanitarian organization Mercy Ships
Converted from the rail ferry MS Dronning Ingrid in 2007, she is currently the world's largest non-
governmental floating hospital It is the newest ship to enter service with Mercy Ships, which has
been outfitting and operating hospital ships that serve developing nations since 1978.
 Facilities & Features
The hospital includes five operating theatres, recovery, intensive care, and 
low dependency wards—totaling 80 patient beds.
 Onboard surgical capacity: ~7,000 interventions per year
 Instruments of note: CT Scan, X­Ray, laboratory services, a Nikon 
Coolscope for remote diagnosis
 Data transmission: Onboard satellite communication system transmits 
diagnoses and other data

Ship Specifications
Fleet Dates 2007 - present

Registered Malta

Crew Capacity 474

Main Engine 4 B&W (3120 kW each)

Draft 6.0m

Length 152m

Breadth 23.7m

Gross Tonnage 16,572

Built Elsinore, Denmark 1980

REFERENCES

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/19/nyregion/coronavirus-nyc.html?
searchResultPosition=4

https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-
updates/2020/03/30/823826987/hospital-ship-usns-comfort-arrives-in-new-york-to-
ease-coronavirus-pressure

http://www.marinemedicalsociety.in/article.asp?issn=0975-
3605;year=2017;volume=19;issue=1;spage=63;epage=65;aulast=Ray

https://qaranc.co.uk/hospitalships.php

https://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/09/health/usns-comfort-hospital-ship/index.html

https://www.mercyships.org/who-we-are/our-ships/

https://www.oregonlive.com/business/2015/01/massive_floating_hospital_the.html

https://www.msc.navy.mil/

https://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4625&tid=200&ct=4

https://www.thebalancecareers.com/military-hospital-ships-3354133
Table of Contents
ABSTRACT 2
ITRODUCTION 3
GENERAL FEATURES 4
FUNCTION AND MISSION 5

Hospital Ships in the World War I and II 7

The closest mission to the USNS Comfort and the USNS Mercy 12
EXAMPLES OF HOSPITAL SHIPS
(1)USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) And USNS Mercy (T-AH-19)
………………………………………8
(2)Africa
Mercy……………………………………………………………………………………
………………13

REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………..15