Navydevildoc

Another great question!

So when heavy seas hit (and keep in mind, our version of heavy seas may be much worse that you are thinking of) everyone gets inside the skin of the ship and we literally "batten down the hatches".

But, to your question about medical procedures... we would much rather conduct surgery in calm seas. But if we must, the ship is designed so that the 12 operating rooms are aligned along the rotational axis of the ship, to produce the minimum amount of movement.

Elsewhere on board you would find large D-Rings, anchor points, and other means to "secure for sea" with cargo straps and similar gear.

The Second Geneva Convention is extremely clear about the employment of hospital ships.

We will provide aid and comfort to all forces. This must be absolutely clear. In fact, during desert storm both MERCY and COMFORT treated prisoners of war. We do not prioritize patients based on nationality, only on true medical need.

In addition, hospital ships may only act in self defense. Full stop. The moment any kind of offensive action is taken from a hospital ship, she immediately loses all Geneva Conventions protection. This is something we take very seriously.

As far as discrete ROE, I won't go in to that. Safe to say, we will defend ourselves, but never, ever, ever, EVER, go on the offensive.

The Mercy and the Comfort are always ready to respond within 5 days of "The Flag Going Up". It could be for combat operations, disaster response, whatever.

Comfort literally deployed 4 days after being officially tasked.

I am not going to speculate on why it took that long for her to be sent. That would be an excellent question for your congressional delegation. The Navy does not act until directed by your elected civilian leadership.

I am going to politely decline to answer force protection questions.

As far as crew compliment... man that's a tough question! It all depends on what the mission is. For example, you wouldn't bring along an entire pediatrics service for a combat mission... but you would need extra trauma docs and orthopedic surgeons.

The maximum crew on board is just over 1,300... and YES there are most certainly Civilians on board as well. Civilian Mariners (also known as Merchant Marines) control the ship itself... handling navigation, bridge watches, running the engine room, etc. There are also civilians that work inside the hospital itself, in IT and logistics.

Engineering at work :-)