New Zealand Girl Reacts to HOW USA HOSPITAL SHIPS WORK 🇺🇸⚓️🚢

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[@jeffburnham6611]

Hospital ships do serve a vital function. In the scenario listed where there was a natural disaster in Sri Lanka, no field hospital is going to have a 1000 bed capacity and with as many ICU and operating theaters. Plus the ship is far more sterile than being in a field setting. During the Gulf War, many of the injured were heloed out to the hospital ship, stabilized, then flown on to military bases like Ramstein in Germany for advanced care. During natural disasters like hurricanes, where power could be out for months (like it was in Puerto Rico), a hospital ship is crucial to providing care.

[@RichNoobylol]

shut up we already know this we just watching a whole vid on this

[@HemlockRidge]

In the Pacific, during WWII, the Imperial Japanese purposely targeted Medics/Corpsmen. This was to the point that Medics/Corpsmen did NOT wear any identification, and carried arms. It's the same with the war on terror. They are prime targets.

[@danielpearson6306]

The same thing took place in the Vietnam war. Medics and medical evacuation helicopters were a target as it takes people to respond to medical needs that would not be focused on fighting the.

[@alexiswinterborn6873]

@gsandmang when the foe breaks the rules? no more rules.

[@mauricesharpe2748]

This tend to b true with most Asian combatants: the Korean, Chinese and Nort Vietnamese.

[@dimetime35c]

Yes both ships where deployed during the start of the pandemic. USNS Comfort to New York city and USNS Mercy Los Angeles.

[@rockymcallister4258]

Too bad some crazy asshole tried to run into the ship with a train in Los Angeles! Luckily the train tracks ran out 1000 feet short! 🍻

[@lakesexorama]

Yeah both deployed neither utilized it's like this virus isn't that bad what a coincidence

[@marcom6089]

@@lakesexorama Bless your heart. Treating 182 people over 3.5 weeks aboard the USNS Comfort was nothing. Why even try to save those people right; I mean they weren’t related to you so why bother in helping those 182 Americans. 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@dunndunndidit9823]

@@marcom6089 182 people totally worth shutting down the whole country. Makes sense

[@BradyPostma]

@@dunndunndidit9823 That's how many the single hospital ship helped. It's not how many all the nation's hospitals helped. But don't let me stop you from talking about how you don't care about American lives. Go on.

[@afcgeo882]

The Comfort was sent to NYC in the height of the initial wave of pandemic. Initially considered as a back-up to city hospitals, to accept and treat trauma patients. This was due to its crew’s expertise of training in battlefield trauma and a lack of positive pressure rooms on board. Positive pressure rooms are needed to treat patients with infectious diseases to keep the contaminated air from spreading throughout the facility. The Comfort also lacks private or semi-private patient rooms, again, due to its mass casualty design. It is primarily built with large spaces that can be packed in. All this made it a “release valve” for city hospitals. It was thought they could transport trauma patients straight to the Comfort’s ER and let hospitals just deal with Covid patients. At the same time, just blocks south of its dock, the Javits Convention center was converted by the Defense Department into a Covid patients overflow and convalescent facility. While the Comfort had 500 usable beds and the Javits center had capacity of 2500 beds, the Comfort only had 100 ICU beds and the Javits Center had 46. ICU beds with ventilators were the greatest needs in NYC at the time, so neither facility really contributed to that. Furthermore, the idea was ambitious at best, and dubious at worst, from the very start. NYC is gigantic, with over 8 million people, 5 large boroughs, built in islands. A trauma patient cannot be driven 30 minutes to a facility when there is a hospital within 5 minutes. That resulted in almost all trauma patients being transported to the local hospitals, and the Comfort sat mostly empty. Upon that realization, the incident commanders decided to change the Comfort’s purpose. They, reluctantly, decided to accept Covid positive patients instead. However, the ship was never designed for that and with the Javits center nearby, it received very few. As the Javits center itself was to take on the “close to recovered” Covid patients, freeing up space in hospitals for new ones, hospitals simply discharged those home, with outpatient follow-on treatment. The problem was that politicians on all levels lacked understanding of medical protocols and city layouts, but wanted desperately to do something, anything to help out. They threw assets at the problem. It’s what inexperienced emergency managers do. Throw everything in hopes that some of it works. In the end, these facilities did get some use, but not much. Not because politicians were idiots or careless, but simply because they were inexperienced in modern infectious disease medicine, as everyone was. Had this been a more typical mass casualty situation, these assets would have been indispensable. The result: The USNS Comfort arrived in NYC on March 30, 2020 and departed on April 21st, 2020. Starting April 6th it began seeing Covid patients. In those three weeks it treated 179 patients.

[@kholoblicin]

Funnily enough, an aircraft carrier is more likely to be deployed to a disaster zone than one of the hospital ships due to their speed, their ability to generate power and fresh water, plus, they have hospital beds, too.

[@helenscott8202]

The hospital ships can be used for countries or islands wiped out by hurricanes, cyclones, or typhoons to help with recovery. They can help furnish water and electricity.

[@williamhadley1580]

My dad was a corpsman(navy medic) in WW2. Depending on the adversary medics can be targeted but if they abide by the Geneva convention they're not supposed to. USNS Mercy also went to Haiti after the earthquakes to treat survivors and through the Caribbean after various natural disasters.

[@wheelz8240]

a buddy of mine and his wife work on Mercy.

[@dimetime35c]

Are they still on deployment to New York and Los Angeles? I know they had to deploy last March cause of covid and I can imagine with the surge it would be needed again.

[@kenardmartin2128]

@@dimetime35c No they returned to there home ports.

[@dimetime35c]

@@kenardmartin2128 well thank them for their service and for putting themselves on the front lines of the pandemic. Myself and my family thank them and hope they stay safe.

[@goldenstateaviation2861]

Interesting fact: Titanics younger sister Brittanic was turned into a hospital ship before it sank

[@JGW845]

Brittanic was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine during WW I with great loss of life.

[@goldenstateaviation2861]

Well no. That was Lusitania. Brittanic did sink in WW1. But she struck a mine that was laid by a German submarine U73. The loss was 30 lives on Brittanic. While Lusitania did suffer a much greater loss of life after being torpedoed by the submarine U20.

[@wesleypeters4112]

@@goldenstateaviation2861 When the Britannic struck the mine, it warped her frame and snapped the cable that received wireless messages. She could send out messages but couldn't receive ones coming in.

[@jameshorn270]

Another set of interesting facts. Violet Jessop was on the first of three ships , the Olympic, when she collided with a ship of the British Navy. The Olympic survived, but went to drydock. The naval ship sank. Jessop was a a cabvin attendant. Sje went on to serve on the TItanic in the same capacity. She was ordered into a life boat to keep the female passengers calm and thus was one of the few surviving crew members. During WW I, she served as a nurse on the Britannic and was one it when it sank. She was struck by one of tue propellors, which was still slowly turning, but was pulled into a lifeboat and survived again, though a year later, it was discovered that the propellor had fractured her skull. She went on to serve a full career with Cunard with no further advebtyres, so her problem was the Olympic class ships, not a jinx in general.

[@timengineman2nd714]

@@JGW845 There's now proof that she struck a mine.

[@user-iy2no6gx9u]

I was on the maiden voyage of the USNS Mercy back in 1987, we went to the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Fiji Islands and Hawaii. We rendered medical aid to the people there, Hawaii was a RR stop before heading back to Oakland CA...Thank you for posting this reaction video, you brought back some great memories of my time serving in the Navy...

[@TheGhostGuitars]

Yeah, I remember seeing the Mercy as it came into port back then. It's arrival was big news at the time. Lots of people went to Pearl Harbor to see it come in. During those days the bases was mostly open to the public (aside from the obviously marked restricted areas, of course). My first reaction was amazement at how big that ship was! This was before I saw my first full sized aircraft carrier (the Nimitz) or a still-afloat battleship (the Missouri, when it arrived in HUGE fanfare in 1998). Lemme see if I can't find a video of it's 1998 arrival in Pearl Harbor... EDIT: Couldn't find the actual arrival video, guess KITV didn't upload those footages. I DID find the footages of the reception ceremonies, uploaded by the Missouri Memorial Association. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jYW2gIlmjcubhZY I remember the fireships leading her in with all hoses going at full blasts, the fighter planes flying in formations overhead, the absolutely huge number of ships accompanying her (both the official and the non-official ones), all the servicemen standing at attention at the railings of their ships, and more... Pity I couldn't find any vids of that arrival of the ship itself.

[@user-iy2no6gx9u]

@@TheGhostGuitars it's hard to find any videos of the Mercy at the time, I remember coming home on leave afterwards and my mother had news clippings from my hometown newspaper about the Humanitarian mission and the our arrival back in the States.

[@nacanieliraduva4084]

I was there when mercy came to Fiji

[@bobbimccain2385]

My daughter active in USAF 19 years ago was selected to go on the Promise Naval Hospital on an humanitarian 3 month voyage to third world countries . She was chose to provide the Nutritional evaluation and treatment of those who was in need of health care. She departed from Norfolk Virginia heading to South America. the voyage lasted 3 months and stopped at ports all along the Caribbean as it went further South. The ship went down to Panama and crossed the Panama Canal and headed back Northward and stopped at countries like Honduras and many other 3rd world countries. I know sometimes America gets a bad wrap for the smut seen on TVs around the world but there are good things accomplished by our Country, this being one. The improverished people received top notch medical care like dental, surgeries, hearing & vision at no cost to them. I am extremely proud to call America home and even more proud to say my daughter is still active 20 years now as a Lt. Col in the USAF.

[@The105ODST]

I remember seeing the Mercy dock at the port of LA during the pandemic.

[@ExUSSailor]

Wasn't it there that some lunatic locomotive engineer tried to ram his train into it?

[@livetotell100]

And neither the Comfort or Mercy saw a single patient.

[@taiwandxt6493]

@@livetotell100 Both of them saw patients but they were indeed in low demand because it was during lockdown, very few people were outside to really get hurt in the kind of standard operating capacity both ships were built for. Still very useful to free up as much space as possible in land hospitals for COVID patients.

[@kdrapertrucker]

They launched the Hope class hospital ships a few years ago, named after comedian Bob Hope who worked for the U.S.O entertaining the troops for seventy years.

[@thomasknight9896]

My first tour in VN my Surgical Hospital,MASH, moved to Chu Lai on the coast. The Repose and Sanctuary would move from Denang south to our area. Several times a month my hospital would send 30+ patients out to the ships for consultations we didn’t have. It started with riding in a CH-47,which was the largest helicopter that could land one on their helipad. It was awesome! I would unload the patatients and turn over their medical records and x-rays to a HMC and I was done for the day. It got me two great Navy meals and the worst butt chewing in my 26 1/2 year career. I was exploring the ship whenI poked my head into a ward out curiousity and was stopped by a LT COMMANDER Nurse and asked what the hell I was doing. I tried to explain I was “lost.” I have been chewed out by E-6 to E-9 and O-2 to O-7 in several branches,but damn that women was the worst!O-1s don’t count they haven’t figured out how do it right. They are usually on the receiving end.

[@markduff821]

Also one helped out in Costa Rico after the hurricane a few years ago , it did take around 20 days to get there but with hardly any buildings left standing they was very useful .

[@daneshockley5967]

The Mercy and Comfort are very cool ships and offer every kind of care you can think of. When they do humanitarian aid missions they provide everything from emergency care to Dentistry, pediatric care and optometry. Like the video says they have moved from their original mission in world war two as hospital ships for wounded soldiers but they still are what is called a "force multiplier". Much like medics/corpsmen the provide soldiers with a sense of security knowing that if they are wounded in combat they will get the best possible care allowed in those environments. The military found out a long time ago that soldiers are more willing to go into battle and high danger missions if they know they have medics, Aid Stations, Combat Support Hospitals and even hospital ships ready to take care of them. Targeting medics/corpsmen is a big no no in the laws of war and are considered war crimes to those that have signed on to the Geneva conventions, according to those rules a medic can not be used as an "offensive" soldier and was why medics in world war two were mostly unarmed. We now carry weapons, I carried an M4 and a M9 pistol in Iraq and Afghanistan but the reason why medics carry weapons are not to use them offensively but in the defense of their patients. Unfortunately, the Taliban are not signatories to the Geneva Conventions and so medics are targeted by them as they would target any solider.

[@yugioht42]

The two hospital ships actually are used mostly for our navy but also if extra hospitals are need but there’s no place to put a hospital so it comes into port. Fortunately it’s a rare occurrence if that happens. The two ships were retrofitted in the 90s to have a helipad so they can receive critical condition patients in a flash. The mercy was sent to New York last summer to assist in virus relief efforts but like three beds were ever used thanks to the Central Park field hospital that got set up by the mayor which saved many lives. It’s unfortunately very cramped inside as really they didn’t put walls between beds just rows of beds with the best medical technology money can buy at their disposal. There is just enough room for people with carts full of medical supplies to get through but not much else.

[@robertfalcon6083]

I was a coordinator, Operations officer for the Comforts deployment to South America a couple years ago. We conducted tens of thousands of free medical procedures while stopping at dozens of ports around central and South America...we even brought veterinarians to treat people’s pets!!

[@afcgeo882]

People don’t understand just how much of an impact your ship has had on its deployments. The pharmaceutical, optometry, psychological and basic wound care impact alone is incredible. These are populations that get NO healthcare at all, not even basic antibiotics.

[@shibboleth5768]

Im a simple man. I see Courtney posted a new reaction and I click. lol. Love your channel. The hospital ships are pretty cool but I do understand why they are becoming less useful outside of regional use. Instead of being loaded onto slow lumbering hospital ships, casualties now are loaded onto fast helicopters, flown to high tech field hospitals and once ready to be moved, loaded onto jets and sent to major hospitals around the world like the one in Ramstein Air Base in Germany or the Naval Hospital Yokosuka Japan.

[@afcgeo882]

@Doug Sawyer Back then, Rhein-Main Air Base was the primary US airlift hub in Europe. Since the 1980s, Ramstein AB has become that hub and Rhein-Main AB has been shut down. Landstuhl Medical Center is far larger and more capable than Wiesbaden ever was.

[@kmoran559]

I served aboard the USNS Mercy in 2008 for Pacific Partnership for 6 months as one of the 6 helicopter pilots assigned for the deployment. Some of what the narrator said may be slightly off but in general it was an ok description of the ships and their missions. They are incredibly capable ships providing medical services to areas in need.

[@BirchLeafPhotography]

You should do a video on the Geneva Convention, since it was addressed in this video. It will explain where it came from and why it is an international agreement. The history of that is interesting. The ships have been deployed to places like Indonesia after the big tsunami there, and the Philippines. I believe the Comfort went to Haiti after the storm they had in the early 2000's too. They've actually been deployed quite a few time for humanitarian purposes. And they are way cool. I was in the Navy and actually got to check out the Comfort once!

[@afcgeo882]

An interesting point not addressed in this video is that while both are owned by the Navy, they are not commissioned warships and are a part of the Military Sealift Command. Their sailing staff and command are civilians. They receive assigned military and civilian medical and support staffing upon deployment. They typically have no combat specialty enlisted or officers on board, unless patients or visitors, ALL to ensure its status as a hospital ship.

[@chuckcarles8288]

I served as a Hospital Corpsman for 21years. Served on th USS Repose (Hospital ship) in Vietnam for a year. We would be off the coast at China Beach and would receive wounded from the battle field with in15 to 20 minutes after they were wounded, by way of helicopter.

[@dimetime35c]

Thats were I personally thing hospital ships shine. Being used with medivac to get pateints to the ship vs a field hospital.

[@a00141799]

Maine is actually a pretty large state. However, it does not have a lot of people (~1.3 million.) A lot of wide open spaces there. 😬 It is a supremely beautiful place but gets very cold during the winter months.

[@JJ-uq6qb]

Maine sucks

[@a00141799]

@@JJ-uq6qb What you got against Maine??

[@JJ-uq6qb]

It’s not all bad I will agree it’s very beautiful but if your a young adult it can suck

[@kavik2825]

Yep, both ships were sent to help in NYC and LA...but the cities ended up barely using them. The US Army also deployed their own mobile medical units and set up temp hospitals in convention centers as well. As far as the Mercy and Comfort go...when they do deploy, they visit central America countries that have very poor medical services, including dental. The ships will do a ton of medical procedures, and many...many operations for the locals. Crew members will also take off in teams and go further into the country to provide basic medical needs along with vaccine shots.

[@TwistedSisterHaratiofales]

WOW, when I was in in 1986 the plan was to make 8 of them, and they were the first to be made from Super Oil Tankers.

[@stevenwanner1061]

True we converted them at National Steele and Shipbuilding Co. NASSCO.

[@douggaijin]

My wife and I were at the Port of Los Angeles when the USNS Mercy arrived. It was just a short trip from the VA Hospital in Long Beach, where we had just come from. It was an incredibly impressive sight and ironically was docked perpendicular to the USS Iowa battleship and museum.

[@MGower4465]

USS Comfort, per the US Navy newspaper, treated 182 patients.70 percent of which were COVID-19. The Javits convention center was converted to a hospital wsrd, which reduced the need for additional overflow facilities. The ship was initially not meant to take COVID cases but was altered while in NYC to be able to keep facilities in quarantine status. The ships were never necessary, given the number of convention and sports facilities that were idle at the time. But those tend to be owned by wealthy people, or by corporations owned by wealthy people, so politicians were not eager to inconvenience people who donste cash to their campaigns.

[@bryonensminger7462]

Our hospital ships are level 1 Trauma Centers that use helicopters for ambulances any thing you could have done to save your life in a major American hospital you can get done on a hospital ship they are a major reason our soldiers have such a huge survival rate

[@aneophyte1199]

A hospital ship was sent to New York during the corona virus outbreak, but it was never used. It stood empty the entire time it was at the city. I think a hospital ship was sent to Puerto Rico after a devastating hurricane and was used there. The previous hospital ships were call Hope and Mercy after they were replaced they got the name they have now.

[@tonychaing3051]

The hospital ship was not needed for the simple fact there were no 1000s of overflow covid patients in any of those NYC hospitals, like had everyone believing. They cresters of this hoax even had FEMA emergency tents all set up to keep the illusion of people dying while waiting in line.

[@lorenzoanderson7985]

You keep doing your thing so proud of you!!!!

[@dirtcop11]

I remember a hospital ship from long ago called "Hope". I think it is a great idea to keep these in service, it is very useful after natural disasters and spreads goodwill to our neighbors, both near and far.

[@JDoelker]

Would make sense for them to convert newly decommissioned nuclear-powered carriers into hospital ships. the flat top would allow med evac helos and props to land load/unload and is big enough to support a similar hospital floor plan like in a city. operating rooms need to be constructed with earthquake dampening style isolation- ship can go its way and op room is not affected- so all types of ops can be performed. They have massive elevators so many injured can be lifted to the flight deck or lowered to the hospital decks at one go. They are also faster than the current hospital ships.

[@heuhen]

Altough Norway don't realy have a tru hospital ship, we have two option, option one is that 2 of the coastal steamers (small cruise ships) in Norway, are build with everything ready to be converted into a hospital within 24-48 hours. We also have HNoMS Maud some are our replenishment ship, it have a fully equipped hospital onboard

[@connorsmith1016]

It was always fun seeing the mercy moored across from my moms ship

[@samsignorelli]

I forget which of them was sent to California to assist with the pandemic, but her purpose was overflow patients once the land hospitals started getting overwhelmed.

[@dimetime35c]

Makes since, better to keep the potential virus spread out of a small very close quarters space.

[@danvalencia4755]

The Comforts home port is Ca

[@samsignorelli]

@@danvalencia4755 Yeah....I'd forgotten.

[@paulj7736]

Other nations do have ships that are designed to operate as hospital ships (either as the primary or a secondary role) but because they have onboard weaponry cannot be classified as a hospital ship based on the Geneva Convention.

[@CourtneyCoulston]

ohhh yeah that's true

[@xiurong888]

My son was in the Navy as a corpsman, an operating room surgical technician. When there were terrible earthquakes in Haiti a number of years ago, the Comfort was deployed to Haiti to provide emergency surgical services. My son was given 24 hours to get to the Comfort from his base in Connecticut. He took a commercial flight to Miami, a Navy jet to an aircraft carrier in the bay with the Comfort, and was coptered over to the Comfort. He got off the copter and went right into the operating room, for 16 straight hours. He said it was a very sad situation seeing all the injured people.

[@oneshotonekillsniper2228]

I saw the USNS Comfort in her home port in Norfolk and a few attack subs and some aircraft carriers and lots of destroyers last time I was there

[@Scioneer]

Victory Rover cruise?

[@anthonyC214]

In the United States, we have 7 Martime Colleges, SUNY Maritime ,the first Martime College, in NYC, others are located in Maine, Mass, Texas. Michigan, California and the Federal Academy at Kings Point LI. With the exception of the Federal Academy, the Merchant Marine cadets must spend their summers on their training ships at sea to qualify to take their USCG license examination. The US Martime Administration has signed,$ 1.5 billion contract to supply the Colleges,with 4 new training ships. These Marchant Marine Training ships will act as replacement for Navy two hospital ships in the near future. They were designed to be converted to hospital ships as they are part of the reserved fleet on loan to the Martime Colleges The first training ship will be assigned to SUNY as the replacement for their current ship the Empire State V. This ship while old has been sent to Puerto Rico and New Orleans after disasters.

[@steveg5933]

I was part of the first augmentee crew for USNS Comfort (To be crew if ship was activated. Never sailed with her though. My charge nurse was part of the team that put Comfort through her sea trials. These ships are converted San Clemente class super tankers. They have the largest blood banks afloat (second only to the largest of trauma centers ashore. After 9/11 Comfort provided power to New York city when the power grid was in chaos. As for Medics and Corpsmen, it is against the Geneva Convention to specifically target medical personnel. However most countries engaged in hostilities with the US do not observe the Conventions.

[@johnccargill4665]

My experience in ERs shows my hospitals have when necessary done xrays with portable machines in the Emergency Room when time was an issue.

[@philliplozano7587]

I have two good Navy vet friends whom served on both the Mercy and Comfort. They saw the worst action during Desert Storm and the Iraq War when it wasn't clear Saddam would respect their status as hospital vessels.

[@kenjewell7156]

I was stationed on the U.S.S. Robison DDG-12 from 83-87 and watched USNS Mercy being built. It was a point of pride for the whole community of San Diego.

[@jameshorn270]

Compartmentalization also means that a ship is harder to sink, since flooding can be limited to a relatively small area.

[@richunggoy3960]

I was stationed on the USNS Mercy its a very big ship with anything and everything medical

[@erictaylor5462]

My mother and father both have aunts who were nurses on WWII who both worked on the same hospital ship. They almost certainly knew each other but we don't know if they were friends because they never mentioned each other in correspondence home and the had both passed before we discovered they we my parent's aunts.

[@ryhol5417]

All of the hospitals I took care of patients at, the ship holds more than all 3. But we had better icus and did open heart. Not supposed to attack medics, but, the medics I knew were not afraid to jump in and fire. That might negate their protection. They were good shots though

[@AngelA-qi1br]

The hospital ship sent to New York was supposed to be for non COVID patients, and those with virus were supposed to be treated in hospitals in the city. The government also outfitted the Javits Center as a hospital for non- COVID patients. This was done after Governor Cuomo said the ship and Javits Center were desperately needed because New York hospitals were overflowing with COVID patients and couldn't accommodate anyone else. Trump got the ship to New York in a few days and the Javits Center was made into a hospital. Neither was used, or were so underutilized that the Hospital Ship left New York after a few weeks.

[@Pecos1]

After 9/11 happened, I was poised to go onto the USNS Comfort to go up to New York, but a last minute change caused to stay back in DC. Of course, I ended up having to work for 23 days straight, mid-watch, while everyone else in the shop who was Navy was deployed. Only two other employees were in my shop, and they were both civilian, so I drew the short straw. I did not know it at the time, but I had made no mistakes the entire time. I was in the radio shop of the hospital I was stationed at, NNMC Bethesda. We were not only in charge of message traffic between the Admiral and command staff to and from the USNS Comfort, but also between the hospital and the European and Mediterranean theatres. Three months later, we had a safety stand down. During that time, myself and the two civilians received Admiral's Commendations, while several others received medals for their time on the Comfort. And yes, both hospital ships are/were helping with the c virus in NYC and LA. When one of the ships goes to help another country, it is called a Humanitarian Mission.

[@mikebalzano2108]

I live in Maine, it’s not very populated but it’s a large state in actual area.

[@Donbett1974]

Remember the guy who tried to take out Mercy with a train.

[@reppin713]

I was Stationed aboard the USNS Comfort in 2003

[@paulmartin2348]

You always make me smile. Thank you much. :)

[@peteremig6244]

Both are awesome platforms... Served on the Comfort during Desert Storm. 1000 bed, Level-1 trauma centers.

[@Hakuna65Matata]

My step sister is in the Navy Medical Corps. Her close friend and crew mate was on one of the medical ships.

[@kenf3539]

I remember a television news story a few years ago... After a disaster, I don't remember where, a U.S. aircraft carrier came in for humanitarian assistance. There were protests by the citizens to this. The Navy launched its aircraft on search and rescue missions. They opened up their kitchens and fed many, used their medical facilities, used their water filtration system to supply the community clean water and even connected their nuclear power plant to the grid for their local emergency services to use. It may not be a hospital ship, but even an aircraft carrier can be a humanitarian asset.

[@taiwandxt6493]

Indeed it can be but symbolism matters to the people. Sure the carrier was used to distribute aid however a carrier doesn't represent such. A U.S carrier represents the U.S's neo-imperialism which very few across the world like.

[@bobbykaralfa]

also when beruit had that grain warehouse explosion.

[@erictaylor5462]

11:00 Medics are not allowed to be armed, but they do get shot all the time. The are one of the most decorated types of solder.

[@procommunistdestruction2318]

Wow I need to go to New Zealand 😍🤣🤦‍♂️. I was a combat medic for marines and was also with navy if you have any questions. We are called Corpsman

[@logans5891]

I’m in the navy and the mercy is currently ported beside my ship

[@erictaylor5462]

7:30 I was in the hospital once and we were in the elevator when it broke down. We were stuck for nearly 2 hours. Thank God I wasn't critical or I would probably have died.

[@JGW845]

Both ships are staffed with Reservists and volunteers who are top specialists in the US when they deploy. For example if the ship goes to a country where there is an abundance of children with cleft palette specialists in pediatric facial reconstruction will be recruited to perform the surgeries. In addition, helicopters aboard fly staff inland where they set up clinics to treat those who are unable to travel to the coast. Optometrists give eye exams and opticians distribute 1000's of pairs of prescription glasses. Serious cases are airlifted out to the ship. Children are accompanied by their parents. There is also a SeaBee detachment aboard which works with the local government to build and improve infrastructure during the port visit with the US paying for the construction materials. Scientists aboard study local disease patterns and vectors. Training is available for local medical personnel. While the Western Hemisphere is generally thought of as wealthy there are millions of people who live in abject poverty with little or no access to healthcare.

[@renecordova6349]

Courtney, please watch 'You could have heard a pin drop' by Jamesvannjr!! This short video makes me proud to be an American!! Also 'The Americans' by Gordon Sinclair!! Both are on KZbin...

[@jasonbyrd7360]

As a Commercial Alaskan Fisherman I am , the USA covers ALL BASES = NAVY, COAST GAURD and 🤔🙃🙃🙃 I’m BLESSED God Threw MEE in a LEARNING experience. THANK YOU New Zealand Lady for Caring and Fact Finding As well as Curious about LIFE ON 🌏 EARTH 👏🙃 God Bless You And Your 🙃😎👍👍❤️ 👽🛸

[@mattmartian1658]

I was just thinking of a system for the surgery room. Wonder if it exist. Build the room over a swivel that keeps it level even during vessel sways. Im sure they only do surgeries in ports or supper close to land. I use to work on Vessels .. kinda still do . You rarely notice any movement, but its still floating. cool video.

[@barryfletcher7136]

Nine nations currently operate medical ships. None of the others have the capabilities of the two US hospital ships. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hospital_ship#Current_hospital_ships The charity Mercy Ships also operates hospital ships: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercy_Ships

[@brodriguez8796]

If you like animals and Marines do a reaction of Sgt. Reckless

[@mindajane]

I knew someone who worked on one of those ships for awhile(I can't remember which ship it was). They were working on the ship when the earthquake in Haiti happened and they were there for several weeks.

[@afcgeo882]

The Comfort, out of Norfolk.

[@redrum482]

We need a new class of mission-built hospital ships.

[@Forced2DoThis1]

We've needed a few smaller ones & a large replacement one for 20 years.

[@alvincealmendras7930]

I watch this Documentary before,I watch it again with you.ahahaha

[@rg20322]

Yes two of these ships were deployed to NY for critical coronovirus needs for especially old age homes - however the Governor did not use them and you can look up the result of that decision.

[@TommyTravels]

That was very interesting. They may have some design flaws but if I had to medical care on a ship, I'd want it to be one of those. Thanks for sharing that today!

[@Montweezy]

The U.S.S. Mercy was stationed in New York Harbor. One of our Medcenter Air medivac helicopters was stationed up there for 2 weeks to do transports to the ships from land to the ships. They didn't hardly use them even as hard as we got hit in the first wave of covid. It is against the Geneva convention not to kill medics or shoot down medivac choppers, or blow up hospitals but those rules are not followed at all by the bad guys....

[@yugioht42]

Weapons aren’t allowed on board is technically true but it doesn’t cover defense strategy. The hospital ships are armed but with nonlethal weapons which are not covered by any convention. These are relatively minor sound based weapons that deter would be boarders as all they do is blast high frequency sound waves at the enemy forcing off course. The crew is allowed personal weapons mostly pistols if a situation is warranted like an enemy captive needing medical treatment or a special case that requires guards.

[@MikeS309]

They have small arms (pistols, rifles, shotguns) and also have hard points to mount 50 cal machine guns.

[@michaelmitchell5656]

The Geneva Convention speaks to medical Neutrality.This means that knowingly firing upon medical stations or staff is considered a war crime

[@briand.1694]

I'm pretty sure Iran would not hesitate to attempt to sink/damage either of the two hospital ships. Pay back would be extreme.

[@jayoleary968]

Thanks for reaching!

[@erictaylor5462]

These ships have come in very handy in the pandemic.

[@davidneel8327]

I think in the Pacific during WW2 on one of the islands a US medic picked up a rifle and saved several GI's from a Japanese attack.

[@sly11benal7]

Interesting video. Thnx 4 the upload

[@josephschwiebert]

Actually the USS Mercy was docked in New York City to act as an additional hospital for covid it ended up getting a grand total of 9 patients because covid well yes it did Stretch the capacity of the hospitals it was never so bad that they ran out of hospital beds

[@taiwandxt6493]

Wrong. It was the Comfort which was docked in New York City. Their purpose was to see non-COVID patients to free up capacity in hospitals for COVID patients. They received 182 patients total in the month they were there. And btw, yes it was very bad. We did run out of hospital beds in the land based hospitals. I worked at NY Presbyterian during the height of the pandemic when I was still in Nursing School. We were flooded and literally had patients in every single space of the hospital we could fit them in. We legit were running out of everything: Beds, PPE, Ventilators. It was a mess.

[@RamPenndragon]

Many countries and virtually all insurgencies are not signatories of the Geneva convention and they have no problem targeting medics. In the Vietnam war wearing a red cross was a target, also in WWII the japanese routinely targeted medics. I am sure this is true in Afganistan and elsewhere. I am also sure that in a conflict neither North Korea or China would have any problem sinking our hospital ships.

[@emojiking8580]

. “👑” Your so 😎 COOL !!!! 👋💞🤚 My brother was in a hospital ship, as a patient after being wounded In Vietnam in 1968, In 1968 the USS HOPE and the USS RESPOSE served , our Country🇺🇸

[@elchamber]

When Mercy came to California, some crazy guy tried to drive to the docks to sink the ship. It was hilarious.

[@viktury2075]

The USNS Comfort stay in Puerto Rico couple months after hurricane Maria 2017 because the entire island was a total disaster!

[@amycox7988]

They did how about during the 2020 covid 19 pandemic in Los Angeles in New York

[@pnwDansk]

the narrator of the video got the year for the Iraq War wrong, the war started in 2003 not 2002 like he said.

[@BornRandy62]

There were two gulf wars. Gulf War 1 (also called Desert Shield Storm) happened in the early 1990s . Gulf War 2 is winding down but still ongoing

[@spuds416]

Maybe the United States should Convert the Nimitz Class Aircraft Carriers into Hospital Ships as they are pulled from service to make room for the new Ford Class Aircraft Carriers. This would increase their Response time because of their faster Top Speed and they could turn the Hanger decks into the Hospital wards to prevent the Bulkhead issues of the Converted Tanker design of Comfort and Mercy. Then they could keep Mercy and Comfort for deployments closer to home

[@taiwandxt6493]

Good idea in concept but that would be VERY, VERY expensive. What would be cheaper, which the Navy is currently looking at, is extending the lifespans of the Nimitz Class as is with slight retrofit. A slightly cheaper and, in my opinion, superior alternative to your idea would be converting the Wasp Class Amphibious Assault Ships into Hospital Ships when they get replaced by the America Class. Their flight deck is already built to accommodate helicopters, their hangar bay could be used, like you said, as a hospital ward, and most importantly, the Well Deck could be used to bring in patients by RHIBs or other small boats.

[@keirangray902]

React to Drachniefel's video if the Battle of Samar. AKA the Leteye Gulf boogaloo

[@grumpyboomer61]

Moving forward, with the somewhat limited use of dedicated hospital ships, more use can be made of the considerable medical facilities on US carriers and amphibious warfare ships. They're faster to move, already staffed, and also send a message.

[@kokomo9764]

Technically you are not supposed to kill Medics in war but that is often ignored and medics are often targeted. An interesting fact about combat is that a wounded solder is preferable to a dead one. Ahead one does not slow an operation down but taking care of someone who is injured takes others out of the fight. Many countries like Russia now and Japan in WWII have a policy to target any medical personnel.

[@michiwonderoutdoors2282]

A train engineer intentionally drove a speeding locomotive off a track at the Port of Los Angeles because he was suspicious about the presence of a Navy hospital ship docked there to help during the coronovirus crisis, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. Murica!

[@FuzzyMarineVet]

Both the USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort have 16 inch guns. There was a need for stable ballast that could be secured in place, while at the same time the Navy had a bunch of old battleship equipment from decommissioned vessels that could not be sold on the open market. So it made sense to weld the guns to the inside of the keel as a solution to both problems. So, although the guns are not able to fire, the United States did technically violate the Geneva Convention in the construction of these ships.

[@kevinhayes1656]

Medics in the military are not even allowed to carry a side arm and aren’t supposed to be fired upon

[@Jcdaking81]

you should maybe look at some off the US naval battles in the pacific in WW2, also being a English man I love cricket some off the things in the game are brutal that ball is solid

[@amycox7988]

I just looked this up online 6:06 pm eastern US According to the newer convention it is against the law to attack a medic in 1 time that is clearly wearing this insignia Of the medical core country

[@MrJlee93]

I saw a video where the US lost a FOB in afghanistan and one soldier was killed. The US military considered that as a loss

[@davidneel8327]

Check out the video that KZbinr History Guy did on the history of US Hospital Ships.

[@SilvanaDil]

People would be surprised to know how many surgeries have been performed on these ships visiting poor nations -- not only by military doctors, but even civilian doctors, including doctors who are/were U.S. senators.

[@blakew374]

React to "The Warrior Song - Aquila Natus"