The Navy now says it will retain both of its hospital ships, following objections from legislators after the service discussed decommissioning one of the 1,000-patient vessels earlier this year.
Created to serve as floating hospitals during times of war, the USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort are devoted during peacetime to humanitarian efforts such as the Mercy’s biennial Pacific Partnership mission and the Comfort’s deployment to Puerto Rico after last year’s Hurricane Maria. They are the largest hospital ships of any military in the world.
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