MERCY
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234 days ago
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Hosptal ship sailing as shadow ship likely towards Panama Canal
One day after departing from the Alabama Shipyard, the USNS 'Mercy' was holding a steady southbound course through the central Gulf of Mexico. On Feb 26, the hospital ship was sailing at a speed of about 10.8 knots towards the Yucatán Channel, with no sign of an easterly turn toward the Florida Straits, the standard route for deep-draft vessels bound for the U.S. East Coast. The ship’s AIS voyage data still listed both origin and destination as Mobile, a placeholder entry indicating no updated destination has been publicly broadcast. , The heading and track were not consistent with a Greenland mission. Instead, the movement strongly suggested a transit toward the Panama Canal, likely repositioning the vessel to the Pacific and the U.S. West Coast.
Ballast tank failure fixed
The USNS 'Mercy' has departed the Alabama Shipyard on Feb 24, transiting southbound through the Gulf of Mexico at about 10.5 knots, closing out months of drydock work while fresh questions swirl about the next assignment. The timing has put the 'Mercy’s movements under a spotlight. Theship had been expected to return to the West Coast for a scheduled $90 million maintenance period withthe Vigor Industrial in Portland starting in March. The Alabama yard period addressed urgent drydock repairs tied to a ballast tank failure and was separate from the upcoming regulatory docking and inspection work. The ship was slated to shift back to the West Coast to resume shipyard availability in Oregon through September 2026.
Greenland rejected "cracy idea"
Greenland. Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen has rejected Donald Trump's "offer" from Feb 21, 2026, to send a hospital ship to Greenland. "It's going to be a no thanks from here," wrote Jens-Frederik Nielsen. “Trump’s idea of sending an American hospital ship here to Greenland has been noted. But we have a public healthcare system where treatment is free for citizens. It is a deliberate choice. But talk to us instead of just making more or less random outbursts on social media", adding that Greenland remained open to dialog and cooperation, also with the U.S. Mads Fuglede, a historian and US analyst, did not believe that Trump's plan will come to fruition. He pointed out that Trump's idea came at the same time that a crew member of an American submarine was evacuated by helicopter from the Danish inspection ship 'Vædderen' to be treated at the hospital in Nuuk: "The only logical explanation I can find for Trump's offer is that the evacuation took place in Greenland, and that it has somehow triggered something in Donald Trump. And at the same time he can tease the stupid Danes," said Mads Fuglede, who also sits in the Folketing for the Danish Democrats. US President Donald Trump had stated to be concerned about the health of Greenlanders, and has therefore decided to send the hospital ship to Greenland, he wrote in a post on Truth Social: "Together with the fantastic Governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry (Trump's special envoy for Greenland), we will send a fantastic hospital ship to Greenland to take care of the many people who are sick and who are not getting the necessary treatment there. It is on the way!", attaching an AI-generated image of the USNS 'Mercy' sailing towards a sunrise. The dispatch of the hospital ship was confirmed by Governor Jeff Landry. While U.S. President Donald Trump said he would deploy a hospital ship to Greenland and showed an AI picture of the 'Mercy', alleging that many people there were sick and not receiving care, in fact both of the U.S. Navy’s hospital ships were docked at a shipyard in Alabama. The USNS 'Comfort' wass undergoing repairs that were expected to be completed in April, while the USNS 'Mercy' was in the middle of a one-year maintenance period that began in July 2025. Trump’s announcement prompted a defens of Denmark and Greenland’s health care system from their leaders on Feb 22, and it was the latest point of friction with Trump. Trump's "social" media post about a hospital ship came after Denmark's military said its arctic command forces on Feb 21 had evacuated a crew member of a U.S. submarine off the coast of Greenland for urgent medical treatment. The Danish Joint Arctic Command said the crew member was evacuated seven nautical miles off Nuuk and transferred to a hospital in the city. The crew member was retrieved by a Danish Seahawk helicopter. Trump referred to his special envoy for Greenland and said, “Working with the fantastic Governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, we are going to send a great hospital boat to Greenland to take care of the many people who are sick, and not being taken care of there. It’s on the way!!!” “We have a public health care system where treatment is free for citizens. That is a deliberate choice — and a fundamental part of our society. That is not how it works in the USA, where it costs money to see a doctor,” Nielsen said, adding in a note of exasperation, that Greenland is always open to dialogue and cooperation. “But please talk to us instead of just making more or less random statements on social media." The Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said Danish authorities had not been informed that the U.S. ship was on its way, which was in fact impossible with the ships being in a yard. The Pentagon referred questions about the status of the U.S. Navy’s two hospital ships, the USNS 'Mercy' and USNS 'Comfort', to the U.S. Northern Command, which in turn referred to the Navy, which in turn referred to the White House, which didn’t want to talk about it. So when Trump publicly declared that a U.S. hospital ship was “on the way” to Greenland, that apparently wasn’t true. The Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen meanwhile defended Denmark’s health care system, writing that she was “happy to live in a country where there is free and equal access to health for all. Where it’s not insurances and wealth that determine whether you get proper treatment. You have the same approach in Greenland.” Aaja Chemnitz, one of the two Greenlandic politicians in the Danish parliament, wrote that "Donald Trump wants to send a poorly maintained hospital ship to Greenland. It seems rather desperate and does not contribute to the permanent and sustainable strengthening of the health care system that we need. “Another day. Another crazy news story." The US Navy, without context, needed help from the Greenlandic health system over the weekend when a crew member on an American submarine - which for unknown reasons was in Nuuk Bay - became so seriously ill that he required hospital treatment. A helicopter from the Danish inspection ship 'Vædderen' evacuated the crew member and flew him to the hospital in Nuuk for treatment.
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