Navy considers moving hospital ship from Baltimore
The Navy is considering moving the hospital ship U.S.N.S. Comfort from its home in the Port of Baltimore to Norfolk, Va., when its current berthing agreement expires in 2013, officials said Tuesday.
Maryland’s representatives in Washington are trying to block such a move. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski is seeking federal funding to study the impact of moving the ship on its wartime and humanitarian missions. Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger introduced legislation Tuesday that would require the Navy to conduct a cost-benefit analysis before making a decision.
“The U.S.N.S. Comfort has long been a source of pride and jobs for its home, the Port of Baltimore, and the rest of the region,” Ruppersberger said. “ When a catastrophe like Hurricane Katrina or the recent earthquake in Haiti strikes, time is of the essence. The Comfort and its team of military medical professionals quickly answer the call to serve.”
Congress has been considering legislation to authorize $10 million to upgrade a pier to berth the ship in Norfolk. A spokesman for the Navy confirmed that Norfolk is one option; he said staying in Baltimore is another.
“The Navy is looking at options for the Navy’s home-porting of Comfort when the contract in Baltimore ends in May of 2013,” said Lt. Justin Cole, the spokesman. “There are a lot of options on the table. It’s too early to tell whether the Comfort will shift away from Baltimore.”
Former Rep. Helen Delich Bentley, a consultant to the port who has been working with Mikulski and Ruppersberger to block the move, said “it’s being considered seriously — but it’s not the first time it’s been considered seriously.”
Berthed in Canton, the Comfort employs 18 civilians, with 60 Naval personnel located within a 30-minute drive. For deployments, it draws on physicians, nurses, technicians and other staff from the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, the Naval Academy in Annapolis and Naval Air Station Patuxent River.
The Navy paid $5 million two years ago to upgrade to the Comfort’s Baltimore berth, and pays Keystone Ship Berthing $1 million annually to keep the ship in the port.
Bentley, who helped to bring the Comfort to Baltimore as a member of Congress in 1988, said a move to Norfolk would be “a waste of money” that would be “penny-wise and pound-foolish.”
“We consider the Comfort an icon in this port,” she said. “When you’re driving in any direction you can see the Comfort, and it is a comfort.”
Ruppersberger visited the Comfort in January as it prepared to deploy to Haiti to assist after the earthquake there.
“I was amazed at how quick and well-orchestrated the extensive undertaking was,” he said. “I fear moving the ship to Norfolk will make that job harder and waste taxpayer dollars in a time when every dollar matters.”
The Navy berthed the Comfort in Baltimore in part for its proximity to the National Naval Medical Center. A move to Norfolk would put the ship within a few miles of the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth.
The 894-foot ship, converted from an oil tanker into a 1,000-bed medical center in 1987, was designed to provide emergency medical care for U.S. troops in combat. It deployed to the 1991 Persian Gulf War and the war with Iraq in 2003, and has also responded to domestic disasters including the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, in New York and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005.
Throughout its history, the Comfort generally has proved too slow and cumbersome to be useful as an emergenccy hospital, however. In recent years it has been used primarily for humanitarian relief missions, including a two-month mission to Haiti after the Jan. 12 earthquake, during which the ship's medical crew treated nearly 1,000 survivors with broken bones and life-threatening injuries.
Comments
Excuse me ... isn't that $10 MILLION. I know it's the government, but I don't think it costs $10 BILLION to build ONE docking berth.
Posted by: Tim | July 20, 2010 5:50 PM
Makes more sense to keep it in Norfolk. It's right on the ocean and it's the Navy's east coast command. Dutch is the typical provincial Baltimorean. Symbolism over what actually makes sense. Send it to Norfolk and use the birth here to actually make some money with ocean liners.
Posted by: Thomas | July 20, 2010 6:48 PM
then you can have a museum ship in it's place.
Posted by: cp | July 20, 2010 6:49 PM
First of all, The Government should save that $10 Million and leave the USNS right where it at! Also, Norfolk isn't the Medical Mecca of U.S. As for Rep. Ruppersberger, he better start learning how to stop these little political tricks in D.C. is that why we elected him to put Maryland First!
Posted by: Richard | July 20, 2010 7:25 PM
Baltimore should make staying in Baltimore an attractive option for the Navy. It probably costs less to berth Comfort in Norfolk and the Navy will probably recoup their cost in a short period of time. Times are tough, even the Navy is looking for value.
Posted by: jim | July 20, 2010 8:40 PM
Are our congressmen going to sit back and let this happen? Why won't Mukulski stand up to stop this. Our representatives should help Maryland when we need them. Maybe they are taken the voters for granite
Posted by: Harry | July 20, 2010 8:46 PM
I do not believe the USNS Comfort ought to be moved to Norfolk or anywhere else for that matter. She is best served being anchored at the Port of Baltimore, where the crew that know her best can facilitate her needs, and the adjunct groups that support her missions can be easily brought to her in a time of need. Baltimore needs the USNS Comfort and the USNS Comfort needs Baltimore. While it is true she does not go fast, she does her job, and does it well. If she is moved further south, she is further from those that may need her in the NE. We have her sister, the USNS Mercy, anchored in Wilmington, NC - why should the two hospital ships be anchored so close?
Posted by: Anonymous | July 20, 2010 9:05 PM
I have said for some time now. The Veterans Administration should look at putting a First Class Hospital on the grounds of the Old Ft Howard Hospital. The Navy should then dock the Comfort at Ft. Howard. This would be a win win situation for everyone.
Posted by: Dale | July 20, 2010 9:36 PM
The Comfort would actually be closer to those who need her in the NE, as she must go past Norfolk when leaving Baltimore to get to the open sea. Moving her to Norfolk would giver her quicker access to the ocean and those she needs to serve. The Comfort does not "need" Baltimore or any other city. It's a self-contained, working hospital that can function on its own in the middle of the ocean. It needs an affordable dock that is within quick access to the Atlantic ocean. Sounds like Norfolk could provide that as well or better than Baltimore. And Norfolk is a Navy town. The Comfort crew will go with it to Norfolk. (They're in the Navy. They go with the ship.) I don't think that keeping the Comfort here because it's a "comfort" to see it in Baltimore is a valid argument. And unless Rep. Ruppersberger explains more thoroughly how a move would make it "harder" for them to do their job, then the Navy should do what is best for the Navy, not what's best for Baltimore.
Posted by: Anon | July 20, 2010 10:24 PM
Those of us that have supported her humanitarian efforts would say emphatically that Baltimore DOES need her and she needs Baltimore. Naval personnel live all over the world. Including Baltimore and Annapolis. Just because there is a large base in Norfolk does not mean the personnel on the USNS Comfort would like to move - some are married and have spouse's that work for area hospitals. Sure, they know they can be deployed/moved at any time, but why make them move? They are serving well right here - just ask the crew!
Posted by: Anonymous | July 20, 2010 10:40 PM
I have served on that ship as recently as the Haiti mission and after having served on many other platforms in the Navy the fact that the Comfort is all by itself here in Baltimore doesnt make sense. Its sister ship is stationed on the main base in San Diego and has full access to all the up keep personnel, supply and various other support facilities with in walking distance. Here it takes months to have jobs accomplished usually by people who come from Norfolk anyway. Also during the last mission supplying the ship was a nightmare due to supplies having to be shipped up here from Norfollk. Also it takes the better part of a day for the ship to hit open ocean from here in Norfolk it would get underway and in open water within a few hours be properly stocked and repaired. Sorry to say but due to the needs of the aging vessel and continued mission requirements Baltimore can not even compare to the services that could be provided by the largest Naval base in the World.
Posted by: Mr. D | July 21, 2010 2:37 AM
Ive read some comments and people have some very wrong information. First the Mercy is in San Diego. Second as for people not wanting to move because they have families here well thats mostly not true most of the crew come from out of state and as do their families and if they are from here that is the nature of the beast when in the military. Not everyone on the 60 man permeant crew is a medical tech so being near Bethesda is of no consequence since half of the full operating crew come from Portsmouth hospital across the river from Norfolk. Also someone said about the ship being near a medical mecca that to is of no consequence. I have served on that ship as recently as the Haiti mission and after having served on many other platforms in the Navy the fact that the Comfort is all by itself here in Baltimore doesnt make sense. Its sister ship is stationed on the main base in San Diego and has full access to all the up keep personnel, supply and various other support facilities with in walking distance. Not here. Also during the last mission supplying the ship was a nightmare due to supplies having to be shipped up here from Norfollk. Also it takes the better part of a day for the ship to hit open ocean from here in Norfolk it would get underway and in open water within a few hours be properly stocked and repaired. Sorry to say but due to the needs of the aging vessel and continued mission requirements Baltimore can not even compare to the services that could be provided by the largest Naval base in the World. Also I dont know if anyone has noticed but the ship is parked in front of huge coal pile which then covers the ship in coal dust both inside and out not very clean for any hospital.
Posted by: Mr. D | July 21, 2010 2:47 AM
The Comfort sits right next to an ugly nasty pile of coal. It is not good for the ship and its machinery. It needs to move to Norfolk. Better served there, to moblize with other military ships.
This won't be the first time Bentley blocked the move.
More wasted TAX dollars.
Posted by: Stirthepot | August 2, 2010 1:54 PM