Editing Hospital ship (section)

==History==

===Early examples===
[[File:Wenceslas Hollar - Part of Tangier from above (State 3).jpg|thumb|Tangier circa 1670. Hospital ships were used during the evacuation of the port in the 1680s.]]
Hospital ships possibly existed in ancient times. The [[Athenian military|Athenian Navy]] had a ship named ''Therapia'', and the [[Roman Navy]] had a ship named ''Aesculapius'', their names indicating that they may have been hospital ships.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/pdf/GC_1949-II.pdf|title=Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea|editor=Pictet, Jean S.|year=1960|publisher=Geneva International Committee of the Red Cross|language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Garraud, Dr. Robert M.|title=Les hapitaux flottants|publisher=Vie et Bontk, Paris|year=1952}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Grandclment, Vice-Admiral|title=Les navires-hapitaux|publisher=Revue internationale de la Croix-Rouge|date=May 1938|page=395}}</ref>

The earliest British hospital ship may have been the vessel ''Goodwill'', which accompanied a [[Royal Navy]] squadron in the Mediterranean in 1608 and was used to house the sick sent aboard from other ships.<ref name=Shaw>{{cite journal|last=Sutherland Shaw|first=J.J.|title=The Hospital Ship, 1608{{ndash}}1740|journal=The Mariner's Mirror|volume=22|issue=4|year=1936|doi=10.1080/00253359.1936.10657206|pages=422–426}}</ref> However this experiment in medical care was short-lived, with ''Goodwill'' assigned to other tasks within a year and her complement of convalescents simply left behind at the nearest port.<ref>{{cite book|last=Oppenheim|first=M.|title=A History of the Administration of the Royal Navy and of Merchant Shipping in Relation to the Navy|page=188|url=https://archive.org/stream/historyofadminis00oppe#page/188/mode/2up|volume=1|publisher=The Bodley Head|year=1896|oclc=506062953}}</ref> It was not until the mid-seventeenth century that any Royal Navy vessels were formally designated as hospital ships, and then only two throughout the fleet. These were either hired merchant ships or elderly [[sixth rate]]s, with the internal [[bulkhead (partition)|bulkheads]] removed to create more room, and additional ports cut through the deck and hull to increase internal ventilation.<ref name=Shaw/>

In addition to their sailing crew, these seventeenth century hospital ships were staffed by a surgeon and four surgeon's mates. The standard issue of medical supplies was bandages, soap, needles and [[bedpan]]s. Patients were offered a bed or rug to rest upon, and given a clean pair of sheets. These early hospital ships were for the care of the sick rather than the wounded, with patients quartered according to their symptoms and infectious cases quarantined from the general population behind a sheet of canvas. The quality of food was very poor. In the 1690s, the surgeon aboard ''Siam'' complained that the meat was in an advanced state of [[putrefaction]], the biscuits were weevil-ridden and bitter, and the bread was so hard that it stripped the skin off patients’ mouths.<ref name=Shaw/>

Hospital ships were also used for the treatment of wounded soldiers fighting on land. An early example of this was during an English operation to evacuate [[English Tangier]] in 1683. An account of this evacuation was written by [[Samuel Pepys]], an eyewitness. One of the main concerns was the evacuation of sick soldiers "and the many families and their effects to be brought off". The hospital ships ''Unity'' and ''Welcome'' sailed for England on 18 October 1683, with 114 invalid soldiers and 104 women and children, arriving at [[The Downs (ship anchorage)|The Downs]] on 14 December 1683.<ref name="McCallum">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5BXB9QtUfFQC|title=Military Medicine: From Ancient Times to the 21st Century|author=Jack Edward McCallum|year=2008|publisher=ABC-CLIO|pages=150–152|isbn=9781851096930}}</ref>

The number of medical personnel aboard Royal Navy hospital ships was slowly increased, with regulations issued in 1703 requiring that each vessel also carry six [[landsman (rank)|landsmen]] to act as surgical assistants, and four washerwomen. A 1705 amendment provided for a further five male [[nurse]]s, and requisitions from the era suggest the number of sheets per patient was increased from one to two pairs.<ref name=Shaw/> On 8 December 1798, unfit for service as a warship, {{HMS|Victory}} was ordered to be converted to a hospital ship to hold wounded French and Spanish prisoners of war. According to [[Edward Hasted]] in 1798, two large hospital ships (also called [[lazaretto]]s), (which were the surviving hulks of forty-four gun ships) were moored in [[Lower Halstow|Halstow]] Creek in [[Kent]]. The creek is an inlet from the [[River Medway]] and the [[River Thames]]. The crew of these vessels watched over ships coming to England, which were forced to stay in the creek under [[quarantine]] to protect the country from infectious diseases including the [[Plague (disease)|plague]].<ref name=hasted>{{cite journal |last=Hasted |first=Edward |year=1799 |title=Parishes |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=62945 |journal=The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |volume=6 |pages=34–40 |access-date=28 February 2014}}</ref>

From 1821 to 1870, the [[Seamen's Hospital Society]] provided [[HMS Grampus (1802)|HMS ''Grampus'']], [[HMS Dreadnought (1801)|HMS ''Dreadnought'']] and [[HMS Caledonia (1808)|HMS ''Caledonia'']] (later renamed ''Dreadnought'') as successive hospital ships moored at [[Deptford]] in London.<ref>{{cite web|title=Research guide A6: Greenwich and the National Maritime Museum|url=http://www.rmg.co.uk/discover/researchers/research-guides/research-guide-a6-greenwich-and-national-maritime-museum|website=Royal Museums Greenwich|access-date=12 February 2017}}</ref> In 1866, [[HMS Hamadryad (1823)|HMS ''Hamadryad'']] was moored in [[Cardiff]] as a seamen's hospital, replaced in 1905 by the [[Royal Hamadryad Hospital|Royal Hamadryad Seamen's Hospital]].<ref>{{Citation |author=Phil Carradice |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6DOIAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT52 |title=The Ships of Pembroke Dockyard |publisher=Amberley Publishing |pages=52–53 |year=2013 |format=e-book |isbn=978-1-4456-1310-9 }}</ref> Other redundant warships were used as hospitals for convicts and prisoners of war.

===Modern hospital ships===
[[File:Hospital ships, China; sketches showing the interior includi Wellcome V0015324.jpg|thumb|right|300x300px|HMS ''Melbourne'', the first modern hospital ship, served during the [[Second Opium War]]. Excerpt from ''[[The Illustrated London News]]'' about the ship (click to read).]]

The [[Royal Navy]] institutionalised the use of hospital ships during the first half of the nineteenth century. Hospital ships were generally superior in their standard of service and sanitation to the medical provision available at the time for convalescent soldiers. The modern hospital ship began to emerge during the [[Crimean War]] in the 1850s. The only military hospital available to the British forces fighting on the [[Crimean Peninsula]] was at [[Üsküdar|Scutari]] near the [[Bosporus|Bosphorus]]. During the [[Siege of Sevastopol (1854–55)|Siege of Sevastopol]] almost 15,000 wounded troops were transported there from the port at [[Balaklava]] by a squadron of converted hospital ships.<ref name="McCallum" />

The first ships to be equipped with genuine medical facilities were the [[steamship]]s HMS ''Melbourne'' and HMS ''Mauritius'', staffed by the Medical Staff Corps and providing services to the [[Second Opium War|British expedition to China in 1860]]. The ships provided relatively spacious accommodation for the patients, and were equipped with an operating theatre. Another early hospital ship was {{USS|Red Rover|1859|6}} in the 1860s, which aided the wounded soldiers of both sides during the [[American Civil War]].<ref name="McCallum" />

During the [[Russo-Turkish War (1877–78)]], the [[British Red Cross]] supplied a steel-hulled ship, equipped with modern surgery equipment including [[chloroform]] and other [[anaesthetic]]s, and [[carbolic acid]] for [[antisepsis]]. Similar vessels accompanied the [[Anglo-Egyptian War (1882)|1882 British invasion of Egypt]] and aided American personnel during the 1898 [[Spanish–American War]].<ref name="McCallum" />
[[File:Hospital Ship Avonmouth 1895.jpg|left|thumb|Hospital Ship, Avonmouth, Bristol Channel, 1895]]
[[File:Avonmouth hospital ship ward 1895.jpg|thumb]]
During a [[smallpox]] outbreak in London in 1883, the [[Metropolitan Asylum Board]] (MAB) chartered and later purchased from the Admiralty two ships, {{HMS|Atlas|1860|6}} and {{HMS|Endymion|1865|6}}, and a paddle-steamer, {{PS|Castalia}}, which were moored in the Thames at [[Long Reach, Kent|Long Reach]], near [[Dartford]],<ref name="DHS-ShipsIntro">{{cite web |title=Hospital Ships: Introduction |url=http://dartfordhospitalhistories.org.uk/hospital-ships/hospital-ships-introduction/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120825160149/http://dartfordhospitalhistories.org.uk/hospital-ships/hospital-ships-introduction/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 25, 2012 |website=Dartford Hospital Stories |access-date=5 November 2021 }}</ref><ref name="Remote">{{cite web |title=The Long Reach Hospital Ships - Ghosts of the Dartford Marshes |url=https://www.remotelondon.com/long-reach-hospital-ships-dartford-marshes/ |website=Remote London |date=28 November 2019 |access-date=5 November 2021}}</ref> and remained in service until 1903.<ref name="DHS-ShipsIntro"/><ref name="HUK">{{cite web |title=Smallpox Hospital Ships in London |url=https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Smallpox-Hospital-Ships/ |website=Historic UK |access-date=5 November 2021}}</ref>

Hospital ships were used by both sides in the [[Russo-Japanese War]] of 1904–1905.The sighting by the Japanese of the Russian hospital ship ''Orel'', illuminated in accordance with [[Law of war|regulations]] for hospital ships, led to the decisive naval [[Battle of Tsushima]]. ''Orel'' was retained as a prize of war by the Japanese after the battle.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}

===World Wars===
[[Image:HMHS Mauretania.jpg|thumb|right|[[RMS Mauretania (1906)|RMS ''Mauretania'']] as hospital ship HMHS ''Mauretania'' during [[World War I]].]]
During World War I and World War II, hospital ships were first used on a massive scale. Many [[ocean liner|passenger liners]] were converted for use as hospital ships. {{RMS|Aquitania}} and {{HMHS|Britannic}} were two famous examples of ships serving in this capacity. By the end of the First World War, the British Royal Navy had 77 such ships in service. During the [[Gallipoli Campaign]], hospital ships were used to evacuate wounded personnel to [[Egypt]], [[Malta]] or England.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Medicine and evacuation {{!}} Gallipoli {{!}} Century Ireland |url=https://gallipoli.rte.ie/guides/medicine-and-evacuation |access-date=2024-07-23 |website=gallipoli.rte.ie}}</ref>

[[Canada]] operated hospital ships in both world wars. In World War I these included SS ''Letitia'' (I) and {{HMHS|Llandovery Castle}} which was deliberately sunk by a German [[U-boat]] with great loss of life, despite the hospital ship's clearly marked status. In World War II, Canada operated the hospital ship {{RMS|Lady Nelson}} and [[SS Letitia|SS ''Letitia (II)'']].<ref>Douglas N. W. Smith, "Bringing Home the Wounded", ''Canadian Rail Passenger Yearbook 1996–1997 Edition'', Trackside Canada, Ottawa, p. 49-64.</ref>
[[File:HMHS Aquitania.jpg|thumb|250px|left|HMHS ''Aquitania'' in World War I service as a hospital ship.]]

The first purpose-built hospital ship in the U.S. Navy was {{USS|Relief|AH-1|6}}<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ICoDAAAAMBAJ&dq=true&pg=-PA35 |title=Popular Science |date=August 1927 |publisher=Bonnier Corporation |language=en}}</ref> which was commissioned in 1921. During World War II both the United States Navy and Army operated hospital ships though with different purposes.<ref name=MSWAJ>{{cite book |last1=Condon-Rall |first1=Mary Ellen |last2=Cowdrey |first2=Albert E. |year=1998 |title=The Technical Services—The Medical Department: Medical Service In The War Against Japan |series=United States Army In World War II |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Center Of Military History, United States Army |lccn=97022644 |pages=258, 388–389}}</ref> Naval hospital ships were fully equipped hospitals designed to receive casualties direct from the battlefield and also supplied to provide logistical support to front line medical teams ashore.<ref name=MSWAJ /> Army hospital ships were essentially hospital transports intended and equipped to evacuate patients from forward area Army hospitals to rear area hospitals or from those to the United States and were not equipped or staffed to handle large numbers of direct battle casualties.<ref name=MSWAJ /> Three of the Navy hospital ships, {{USS|Comfort|AH-6|6}}, {{USS|Hope|AH-7|6}}, and {{USS|Mercy|AH-8|6}}, were less elaborately equipped than other Navy hospital ships, medically staffed by Army medical personnel and similar in purpose to the Army model.<ref name=MSWAJ />

[[File:HMHS Britannic.jpg|thumbnail|right|{{HMHS|Britannic||2}} (youngest sister of {{RMS|Titanic||2}} and {{RMS|Olympic||2}}) after conversion to a hospital ship during World War I.]]
The last British [[royal yacht]], the post World War II {{ship|HMY|Britannia}}, was constructed in a way as to be convertible to a hospital ship in wartime. After her decommissioning, [[Peter Hennessy]] discovered that her actual role would have been as [[Queen Elizabeth II]]'s [[Operation Candid|refuge from nuclear weapons]], hiding amidst the [[loch]]s of western Scotland.<ref>{{cite news|last = Johnson|first = Simon|date = 2010-07-12|title = 'Floating bunker' plan to help Queen escape nuclear attack|url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/7883972/Floating-bunker-plan-to-help-Queen-escape-nuclear-attack.html|work = Daily Telegraph|location = London|access-date = 2017-08-23}}</ref>

A development of the [[Lun-class ekranoplan]] was planned for use as a mobile field hospital for rapid deployment to any ocean or coastal location at a speed of 297&nbsp;knots (550&nbsp;km/h, 341.8&nbsp;mph). Work was 90% complete on this model, ''Spasatel'', but Soviet military funding ceased and it was never completed.

Some hospital ships, such as {{SS|Hope}} and ''[[Esperanza del Mar]]'', belong to civilian agencies, and do not belong to a navy. [[Mercy Ships]] is an international [[Non-governmental organization|non-governmental charity]] (or NGO).