The USNS Comfort, one of the two hospital ships owned by the Department of Defense, has been ordered to head to New York to help state officials deal with the growing coronavirus pandemic.
The only problem: The ship won’t be ready anytime soon.
The USNS Comfort — a converted supertanker built in the 1970s — is currently undergoing maintenance in Norfolk, Va., Pentagon officials confirmed Wednesday.
“They’re going to expedite the maintenance that they can,” said chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman. “That’s not a ’days’ issue - that’s a ’weeks’ issue. So it’s going to be a little while.”
The USNS Mercy, sister-ship to the Comfort, is home ported in San Diego, Calif. and will likely be sent somewhere on the West Coast. When the decision is made, the USNS Mercy may arrive before the New York-bound hospital ship even gets out of port.
“The Mercy will be prepared and ready to go much sooner. They are hopefully going to be prepared to go in ’days’ and not ’weeks,’” Mr. Hoffman said. “They’ve had a warning order to get ready for the last few days.”
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The two hospital ships are not normally fully staffed like other vessels. The Pentagon received a warning order on Monday to get the ship seaworthy and is now trying to locate sufficient medical personnel, most likely all currently on active duty.
“These ships and designed for trauma and for combat casualties. That’s the staff that we’re preparing to deploy with it right now,” said Air Force Brig. Gen. Paul Friedrichs, Staff Surgeon for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Pentagon officials said they believe the hospital ships will be used to tend non-coronavirus patients and allow local hospitals to treat those infected by the virus.
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