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Photos Show Where US and China Have Sent Hospital Ships
Both China and the United States, rivals in the contest for naval dominance in the Pacific, have recently deployed naval hospital ships.
USNS Comfort has been conducting a medical mission in Latin America since May 30, according to the U.S. Navy. Meanwhile, CNS Silk Road Ark departed for islands and reefs in the contested South China Sea on Monday, according to the Chinese military.
China's navy is larger than its U.S. counterpart by hull count. While most of their vessels are designed for combat, both naval forces operate hospital ships that function as floating mobile medical facilities-supporting military missions, disaster relief and humanitarian operations.
The Chinese and American hospital ship deployments come after China commissioned its third oceangoing hospital ship, CNS Auspicious Ark, in May-a major milestone that now sees all three of China's theater command fleets equipped with their own hospital ships.
The Comfort departed Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, for a mission known as Continuing Promise 2025, aimed at providing patient care and technical expertise in community clinics across Grenada, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic.
The hospital ship arrived in St. George's, the capital of the Caribbean island of Grenada, on June 9, according to the U.S. Navy. In addition to providing medical care, American service members will renovate buildings and repair infrastructure damaged by natural disasters.
The Comfort is one of two Mercy-class hospital ships operated by the U.S. Navy, alongside USNS Mercy. The 63,000-ton ship-delivered to the Navy in 1987-is equipped with 1,000 patient beds, 11 general-purpose operating rooms and one interventional radiology suite.
Meanwhile, the Silk Road Ark departed the coastal city of Sanya-on China's southern Hainan Island-for its second "medical outreach voyage" since entering service in 2024.
"The mission focuses on meeting the medical needs of service members on islands," the Chinese military said in a press release. China controls a number of maritime features in the South China Sea, where its sovereignty claims overlap with those of several other countries.
The 10,000-ton Silk Road Ark is smaller than the Comfort, with a capacity of 300 patient beds. The vessel-China's second 10,000-ton oceangoing hospital ship-is capable of hosting eight surgical operations simultaneously, according to China Daily.
The U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command said in a press release on June 9:"[Continuing Promise 2025] marks the 16th mission to the region since 2007 and the eighth aboard [USNS] Comfort. The mission will foster goodwill, strengthen existing partnerships with partner nations, and encourage the establishment of new partnerships among countries, non-federal entities, and international organizations."
The Chinese military said in a press release on Tuesday: "[CNS Silk Road Ark's] major tasks include medical rescue and evacuation of the wounded at sea, international humanitarian medical service, emergency medical rescue in major disasters, and foreign military medical exchanges and cooperation."
It remains to be seen whether China will expand its fleet of hospital ships as part of its naval modernization efforts, thereby increasing operational flexibility for deployments across different regions.
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