The first hospital ships in the U.S. were
used as early as the War of 1812 and
continued to be used during the
Spanish-American War, World War I, and
World War II. Commissioned ships were
fully equipped for state-of-the-art
medical care with operating rooms, x-ray
machines, and ventilation.Today, the USNS
Mercy and USNS Comfort are operated by
the Military Sealift Command and provide
hospital services for disaster and
humanitarian relief. Their primary
mission to provide emergency medical and
surgical care for the deployed.
Visit Health.mil for more information, and
check out the National Museum of Health
and Medicine to learn more about
hospital ships.
