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Facts About The 1000-Bed Navy Giant Hospital Ship, USNS Comfort In New York City
The CoronaVirus outbreak is having a massive effect on the world. One of the worst countries is the United States with a reported case of 150,000 that are positive, New York City is the epicenter of the COVID-19 in the US.
The USNS Comfort a 1,000-bed Navy Hospital ship docked in New York City on March 30 to alleviate the burden that New York hospitals have been facing amid the coronavirus pandemic as the state’s COVID-19 death toll nears 1,000.
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While New York is now considered the US epicenter of COVID-19, no coronavirus-positive patients will be treated aboard the USNS Comfort. Instead, the ship will serve as a ” referral hospital ” to free up New York City’s hospital beds, intensive care units, and ventilators as local hospitals are becoming increasingly inundated with COVID-19 patients.
“This is like adding another hospital here in New York City,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said on NY1. “It’s such a boost to see the military arrive to help us out.”
An Overview Of The USNS Comfort 1000 Navy Hospital
The ship has been around for over four decades and been deployed all around the world. Here is everything else you need to know about the USNS Comfort.
Amazing video captured by @madnessnyc of USNS Comfort arriving in New York Harbor @NY1 pic.twitter.com/hvlrPGmVje
— Amanda Farinacci (@amandafarinacci) March 30, 2020
It’s a converted oil tanker. The ship didn’t start out as a hospital ship, but as a San Clemente-class oil supertanker called the SS Rose City. It was built by the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company in San Diego in 1976. The US Navy purchased it in 1987, along with another supertanker, with the goal of converting both into Mercy-class hospital ships. The Comfort’s sister ship, the USNS Mercy, is currently being deployed to the West Coast.
But as a converted oil tanker, moving patients around can prove difficult. The bulkheads used to separate the oil weren’t removed during the retrofitting, nor were hatches added to improve horizontal movement through the ship. Most of the movement of patients from one area to another must be made by going up to the deck first and then back down.
Painted white with several prominent red crosses, the ship’s look is designed to illustrate its purpose and protect its crew and cargo against hostile attacks. The Geneva Convention protects hospital ships if they carry no munitions or weapons; any country that fires on one is charged with an international war crime.
Size Of The USNS Comfort
The ship is around 100 feet tall, which is the size of a 10-story building. It has a deep draft — it displaces 70,473 tons of water — and, in many ports, it has to stand at least a mile offshore. Over 894 feet long (272 meters), the Comfort is about the length of three football fields and can travel at a speed of 17.5 knots (20.1 mph).
To receive patients, the Comfort has a large helipad, with the capacity to land large, military-grade helicopters. The ship also has the ability to accept patients from other ships docked alongside. Comfort can be fully activated and crewed within five days.
The Comfort has 1,000 beds, 500 of which are designated for minimal case needs, another 400 for intermediate cases, 20 for surgical recovery, and 80 for intensive care patients. Though the Comfort will be docked while in New York City, it was designed with a large rounded hull for improved stability for surgeries and other intensive procedures that needed to be performed at sea.
History of The Comfort
The Comfort has been to war zones and disasters alike. The ship has been to Haiti at least twice in recent years: once in 1994 to help process migrants who wanted to escape the unrest and again in 2010 after a magnitude 7 earthquake laid waste to the nation’s capital of Port-au-Prince.
It has also been deployed to the Persian Gulf several times over the years. Stationed near Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in 1990, Comfort saw 8,700 patients, 2,100 helicopter landings, and 337 surgeries in its 12 operating rooms. It was also stationed there in 2002 during the US invasion of Iraq.
In addition to 9/11, the Comfort has been deployed in US waters to help respond to various disasters. In 2005, the ship was sent to New Orleans and Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina devastated the region. The ship helped treat 2,000 patients during the seven weeks it was stationed in the Gulf of Mexico.
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