The trauma of war includes the preparation for war and the provisions of care to casualties. The crew of the USNS Comfort faced the prospect of a tragic, horrific war, for eight months from August 13, 1990 to April 15, 1991 in the Persian Gulf. The stress on the care givers in this war environment was substantial. As a wartime hospital ship, the Comfort was a unique trauma environment whose mission was the delivery of care to the victims of war.

The concept of a floating hospital is not new, nor is the provision of psychiatric services aboard a hospital ship. Spain employed a hospital ship during the Armada, and during the 17th century, the French provided one 100 bed hospital ship for every ten ships in the fleet. The first American hospital ship was the ‘Red Rover’ which carried volunteer Red Cross nurses and cared for union forces during the Civil War. (Mateczun, in press)

Psychiatrists have deployed with hospital ships for at least the last 50 years. A psychiatrist was aboard the hospital ship, USNS Solace in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and cared for both medical and psychiatric casualties. By the end of World War II, there were 12 hospital ships in the US Navy, and many of these had psychiatrists aboard. During the Viet Nam Conflict, two 500 bed hospital ships were kept busy providing care and respite for the forces ashore. These ships each had one psychiatrist and 48 dedicated psychiatric beds.