Biggest U.S Hospital Ship

USNS Mercy is the biggest U.S hospital ship and also the lead vessel of her class. The ship does not have any offensive weapons, in compliance with the Geneva Conventions, but defensive weapons are available.

She was constructed as an oil tanker named SS Worth in 1976 by National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, San Diego, California.

In 1984, she was converted into a hospital ship by the company and entered service in 1986. The conversion took 35 months and cost a whopping 208 million dollars.

The Mercy class ships are the 3rd biggest in the U.S. Navy, in terms of length, surpassed only by Nimitz and Gerald R. Ford Class of Aircraft Carriers.

The biggest U.S. hospital ship has a transom stern, extended deckhouse, a forward bridge, a bulbous bow and a helipad with flight control facility.

The ship provides medical and surgical services to Marine Corps, Air/Ground Task Forces, Army, Air Force units deployed ashore, naval amphibious task forces and battle forces offshore.

The hospital ship also offers mobile medical services to U.S. government agencies in case of natural disasters and in humanitarian relief operations.

Her homeport is San Diego, and her crew members are a part of the Naval Medical Center San Diego until they are ordered to the sea, at which time they have 5 days to activate the ship to a NATO Role III Medical Treatment Facility.

Just like other USNS Ships, mariners from the Military Sealift Command undertake navigation, propulsion and other deck duties onboard.

The medical facility on the biggest U.S. hospital ship is commanded by a captain of the Navy Medical Corps or the Navy Nurse Corps.

USNS Mercy has a displacement of 65,552 tonnes and is 272.6 m long, 32.25 m wide and has a 10 m draft.

She has a steam turbine, 2 boilers, a shaft and a speed of 17.5 knots with a range of 13,400 nm.

She has a complement of 12 civilians and 58 military members during reduced operating status, 61 civilians, and 1,214 military members during full operating status.

The biggest U.S. hospital ship has 1000 beds, including 80 in the ICU, 20 recovery beds, 280 in intermediate care wards, 120 in Light care wards, and 500 in Limited care wards.

The hospital ship has 12 operating rooms and 2 oxygen-producing plants, laboratories, a morgue, and a blood bank too.

In its recent mission, USNS Mercy left its homeport in San Diego in 2023, to begin the Pacific Partnership 2024-1 and visited the Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands, Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia.

The ship’s crew worked along with the host nations to offer medical care, conduct community health checkups and disaster response training.

They treated thousands of patients and performed surgeries, and also distributed prescription glasses. The ship also conducted a tuberculosis eradication campaign on board the Marshallese hospital ship RMIS Liwatoon Mour.

The medical team also provided cataract treatment and women’s healthcare services, including gynaecology and obstetrics, to local women.

They also trained the locals in health practices like proper food storage and pest control to improve community health.

This mission fostered regional safety, security and enduring partnerships among the U.S and Indo-Pacific nations.

The deployment ended and the USNS Mercy returned to San Diego in February 2024, after a 4-month tour.

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