The
U.S. Naval Hospital Ship Comfort (and her sister,
USNS Mercy) play a
large role both in America's ability to project soft power and humanitarian assistance abroad, and in the global image of those good will operations. Comfort continues to perform so well in Haiti, but consideration of the lessons learned from this and other recent deployments beg the question: "If you were to design the next generation of hospital ship, the next USNS Comfort, what would the vessel look like?" Christopher Albon, whose
Conflict Health blog has become a great read for me following
Ryan Erickson's plug last month, answers with his own excellent thoughts in a great, quick post. His key point:
To maximize effectiveness, rapid arrival on station after a disaster should occur because of the ship’s design, not in spite of it. Hospital ships must be small, fast, and shallow. They must operate in areas with small, damaged, or no ports. They must navigate waterways littered with debris without assistance and anchor in the shallow waters close to shore. Most importantly, hospital ships must be fast. Arriving in the first 24 hours is orders of magnitude more helpful than arriving in the first 48 hours, or 88.
I encourage you to
read the full post on his website and to offer your thoughts and insight. The pair of oil-tankers converted to floating hospitals are nearing their 35th birthday at a time when the need for their services is greater than ever. While seemingly a ways off, contemplation of "what comes next" for America's maritime humanitarian diplomacy abroad is an ever-salient question.
