The huge hospital ships deploying to Los Angeles and New York used to be oil tankers
The USNS Comfort off Colombia in August, 2019. (Morgan K. Nall / US Navy /)Follow all of PopSci’s COVID-19 coverage here, including travel advice, pregnancy concerns, and the latest findings on the virus itself.Two giant hospital ships, each nearly 900 feet long, are deploying to the US’s biggest cities: Los Angeles and New York. The USNS Mercy left San Diego on Monday and will travel to LA, while its sibling ship, the Comfort, is operating on a slower timeline. It could be “a few weeks,” before it leaves Norfolk, Virginia for New York, according to a US Navy spokesperson. The goal: take some pressure off hospitals crunched by the COVID-19 outbreak.Both have 1,000 beds, can carry a medical staff of more than 1,000 people, have the ability to receive military helicopters, and contain a dozen operating rooms. The Mercy expects to have a max of 1,128 medical personnel on board,...