USNS ''Bethesda'' (T-EMS-1) will be the seventeenth overall , and first of her Expeditionary Medical Ship class, operated by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

Military Sealift Command The Military Sealift Command (MSC) is an organization that controls the replenishment and military transport ships of the United States Navy. Military Sealift Command has the responsibility for providing sealift and ocean transportation for all U ...

. On 15 May 2023, Secretary of the Navy

Carlos Del Toro Carlos Del Toro (born 1961) is a Cuban-American entrepreneur and retired United States Navy officer who served as the 78th United States secretary of the Navy from 2021 to 2025. He is the second Hispanic American to serve as the Secretary of the ...

announced that the ship would be named after the Bethesda Medical Center, now part of the

Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC; formerly known as the National Naval Medical Center and colloquially referred to as Bethesda Naval Hospital, Walter Reed, or Navy Med) is a United States military medical center located in B ...

, in

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Located just northwest of Washington, D.C., it is a major business and government center of the Washington metropolitan region ...

. She will be the first ship in the US Navy to carry the name.

Expeditionary Medical Ship

Beginning with USNS ''Cody'' (EPF-14), the ships will be designated as EPF Flight II, with increased health services capabilities while still maintaining most of the original mission of the ship. The Flight II variant is designed to bring enhanced medical capabilities at the request of Combatant Commanders, and allows patients to recover onboard rather than in a higher-level facility. They can respond faster, and to more places than the Navy's larger, slower and unarmed

hospital ship A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating healthcare, medical treatment facility or hospital. Most are operated by the military forces (mostly navy, navies) of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or ...

s. The EPF Flight II design includes upgrades to the medical facilities for resuscitation and surgery, enhanced support of V-22 flight operations, and enhanced launch and recovery of 11-meter rigid inflatable boats. In January 2023, the Navy announced that three Expeditionary Medical Ships (EMS) had been approved in the 2023 military budget. These will be T-EMS-1,

T-EMS-2 USNS ''Balboa'' (T-EMS-2) will be the eighteenth overall , and second . She will be operated by the United States Navys Military Sealift Command. On 27 October 2023, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro announced that the ship would be named ...

, and T-EMS-3. These are planned to be about 118m versus the earlier ships , and have a

draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...

of for operations in "austere ports". The EMS will have four operating rooms and 124 medical beds, separated into acute care, acute isolation, ICU, and ICU isolation spaces. Two 11-meter

rigid-hulled inflatable boat A rigid inflatable boat (RIB), also rigid-hull inflatable boat or rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB), is a lightweight but high-performance and high-capacity boat constructed with a rigid hull (watercraft), hull bottom joined to side-forming a ...

s allow for the transfer of patients from other ships or water rescue; the flight deck has room for a single

V-22 The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey is an American multi-use, tiltrotor military transport and cargo aircraft with both vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and short takeoff and landing (STOL) capabilities. It is designed to combine the functionalit ...

, or an

H-53 The Sikorsky H-53 is a family of military helicopters built by Sikorsky Aircraft. H-53 is its United States military designation; the company has several designations for it including S-65, S-80, and S-95. The helicopter is noted for Naval, Sea ...

H-60 The Sikorsky H-60 is a family of military helicopters built by Sikorsky Aircraft. All models use a modified mission symbol in addition to the 'H' vehicle type designator under the 1962 United States Tri-Service aircraft designation system (meani ...

helicopter. ''Bethesda'' is planned for delivery by December 2026.

References

Transports of the United States Navy Spearhead-class Joint High Speed Vessels {{US-mil-ship-stub