Navy Hospital Ships

The history of naval hospital ships can be traced back to December of 1798, when an unfit warship, the HMS Victory, was converted to hold the wounded. An early American example is the USS Red Rover, which transported wounded soldiers during the American Civil War. However, the most important hospital ships came into use during the world’s first transcontinental conflicts in WWI and WWII.

Hospital ships are important naval vessels because they are outfitted with all they need to care for and transport wounded, including nurses, physicians, beds, and operating facilities. Many lives have been saved due to safe transport aboard a naval hospital ship. During WWI and WWII, these vessels represented the last voyage between a wounded soldier and the home they love. Today all hospital ships display a large Red Cross symbol to indicate their acquiescence with Geneva Convention accords, which prohibits the sinking or attack of such vessels.

Although hospital ships were intended to ferry the wounded, many became aboard them were exposed to harmful levels of asbestos, which was used commonly aboard naval vessels. Crew and passenger members aboard hospital vessels encountered asbestos in the ship’s boilers and piping, as well as in the construction compounds of the vessel. To learn about asbestos exposures aboard a particular hospital ships, please browse our index below.

Hospital Ship Listing

Last modified: December 09 2009.