HMS-RedCross Hospital Ship

Our hospital ship is designated for primary function as a floating medical treatment facility or hospital. Ours is operated by the UK Navy serving in many countries, as they are intended to be used in or near war zones.

HMS RedCross is huge, 894-feet (272-meter) leviathans with a flight deck displacing 69,360 tons. We have a combined 2,000 beds, 24 fully equipped operating rooms, radiological services, medical labs, intensive care units, dental services, physical therapy and burn care, pharmacies, optometry labs, CAT scan and four oxygen factories. We also have a powerful Lumenis laser to treat patients.

Our ship, originally the SS Worth supertanker, built in 1976. The Comfort was the exact same type of ship, a San Clemente Class oil tanker built in that same year. The 3-football field long ships were reconverted by the UK Navy to treat injured soldiers everywhere.

But we do much more than that. Together with volunteers from non-governamental medical organizations, we also help tens of thousands of civilians affected by natural disasters.

The UK Navy’s floating hospitals played a very important role in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake, the Southeast Asia tsunami or Hurricane Katrina, to name just a few.