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In the "Ferries of Portsmouth" thread over in Real Designs (A topic which I am enjoying greatly, BTW. Very nice drawings) I had asked a question about the feasibility of conversions of large ferries to Hospital Ships, and made reference to the 'Africa Mercy' which had been converted from the Danish ferry 'Dronning Ingrid'.

Not wanting to continue a threadjacking of the Ferries of Portsmouth topic, I thought I would start one of my own on that subject....

So, points of discussion:
Are ferries viable overall for conversion to hospital ships? Would passenger liners or other merchant hulls be a better alternative? What about built from the keel up hospital ships, I believe China has one now, the Type 920 (which I plan on starting a drawing of sometime in the near future, once I get my Dupuy de Lome a bit further along). Are the US hospital ships USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort, which are conversions from oil tankers, really that effective, or are they too large?

Yeah, probably too many questions, and maybe just a little vague, but hospital ships seem to be forgotten or pushed onto the back-burner by many naval historians in favor of warships, but I like to study and discuss auxilery ships too as they are just as vital as the missile-n-bullet throwers to the overall mission of any navy, in my opinion. (And from what I've seen here so far, several of you appear to hold a similar view.)

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Here is the Norwegian solution:

http://translate.google.com/translate?s ... BB&act=url

Hnh. That sounds like a reasonable solution. Nice looking ship, too.

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"Anybody remotely interesting is mad in some way." - The Seventh Doctor

I've been mulling over a baby hospital ship based on the CPCX hull (along with several other variants). If you are going to build a dedicated hospital ship rather than a conversion, an LPD hull has appeal.

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Perhaps an LHA or LHD as well could be considered. Plenty of room below decks I believe, plus ample space for evac helo's and for LCAC's and other landing craft serving as casualty evacuation boats. Maybe an old Iwo Jima class or a Wasp class conversion?

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"Anybody remotely interesting is mad in some way." - The Seventh Doctor

it should be said that there are DP hospital ships as well. for example the hrms rotterdam has an limited hospital on board(of which parts can be changed to regular accomodation) and the new dutch JSS will have an fully equipped one, IIRC. I would have to check that though, and I don't know how it is in other navies, but hospital ships aren't dead, only less visible in smaller navies.

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And the RFA Argus too, set up as a "Primary Casualty Receiving Ship" which is just a hospital ship by another name, and only because it maintains some armament, a pair of 20mm mountings plus 4 7.62mm MG's. It started as a container ship, which was leased by the RN during the Falklands War, bought outright in 84, became an aviation training ship, then was outfitted as a hospital during the Gulf War. Its primary function is still as a hospital ship but since it does have arms it isn't permitted to be called one or painted like one under the Geneva Convention.

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"Anybody remotely interesting is mad in some way." - The Seventh Doctor

Points for a car ferry:

- large, open deck space ideal for triage center
- said deck space is not topdeck so patients are not exposed to the weather
- said deck space is actually inside the hull, which means likely access from various areas of the ship
- often ample passenger space that could be used for intensive care/quarantine
- easy loading/unloading
- large volume for tonnage
- usually fairly fast

Points against

- dodgy safety record
- openings in the hull (side ramps, bow ramp) often cited as compromising seaworthiness
- conversion to seal these in turn compromises cargo loading and adds expense
- often very worn out when made available for resale
- cruise/ferry features may be extraneous

LPDs and other amphibious assault ships don't have these disadvantages but are often very worn out when removed from servace.

The plan for converting the United States into a hospital ship.

Model of the planned conversion.

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The New Wolf's Shipyard
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the biggest plus for a Amphib.... the well deck.

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