Esperanza del Mar
# Esperanza del Mar

There have been at least three Ships bearing the name Esperanza del Mar (Spanish for 'Hope of the Sea';), operated by the Instituto Social de la Marina [es] (Social Institute of the Navy) on behalf of the Spanish Ministry of Employment and Social Security serving as hospital ships for Spanish fishermen.

* Esperanza del Mar - former USS Monadnock, sunk as an artificial reef in 2000.
* Esperanza del Mar - former container freighter, build in 1977, converted to Hospital Ship in 1982
* Esperanza del Mar - purpose-build vessel, commissioned in 2001

## 2001 Vessel

Costing over €21 million, with around 20 percent being funded by subsidies from the European Union, the ship was built by Juliana Constructora Gijonesa S.A., in Gijon, Spain. Commissioned in October, it entered regular service in late November 2001. Homeported in Las Palmas, Esperanza del Mar provides medical services for the crews of the Spanish industrial fishing fleet off the coast of Western Africa. It is one of the larger hospital ships currently in service and possibly the largest purpose-built hospital ship (instead of converted vessels).

