The hospital ships USNS Mercy (right) and USNS Comfort (left) at Alabama Shipyard in Mobile, Alabama, marking a rare moment with both Navy hospital vessels alongside during scheduled maintenance in early 2026. Photo posted January 23, 2026 by Alabama Shipyard. Photo & caption via gCaptain.
ABC News reports a U.S. Navy medical emergency off Greenland:
A U.S. Navy sailor was medically evacuated Saturday afternoon from an American nuclear-powered submarine by Danish military forces, according to a U.S. and Danish official.
The submarine broke from its mission and surfaced about eight miles from Nuuk, Greenland, an extraordinary step for a vessel designed to remain hidden beneath the sea in secrecy.
The sailor was airlifted by a Danish Defense Seahawk helicopter, deployed from the Vædderen, a Danish military patrol ship.
It’s unclear what the nature of the medical emergency was, but it was not combat-related, according to the U.S. official.
The sailor is being treated at a hospital in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital.
Naturally, Peace Prize-hungry Trump rushed to inject himself into the story. He posted to social media, “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!!!”
Illustration: USNS Mercy.
After Donald Trump’s henchman threatened us with a defamation lawsuit in 2019, Digby assured them “that we believe Donald Trump is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being we have ever known in our lives.” (IYKYK) And here he is proving it in the wake of this medical emergency. What a humanitarian!
On this Sunday morning, let’s not jump to conspiracy theories about the nature of this U.S. Navy medical emergency. Or about how Trump might sense an opportunity to leverage it somehow to “acquire” Greenland for himself. Perhaps he didn’t plan to send a boatload of U.S. “medical personnel” to Greenland on a humanitarian mission.
NBC News reports that Trump issued his disparaging offer of help “moments before hosting a dinner for Republican governors at the White House, where he sat next to and chatted with Landry.” In a “Yes sir. How high?” tweet, Landry expressed his eagerness to work with Trump “on this important issue!” How Landry otherwise figures into Trump’s “hospital boat” tale is unclear beside being named Trump’s special envoy to Greenland in December. Neither man has a hospital ship in his back pocket just now.
It is simply more Trump bluster. Maritime news website gCaptain reports that USNS Mercy, the ship in the image Trump attached to his “truth” is currently out of service:
As of late January, the 1,000-bed hospital ship was firmly in drydock at Alabama Shipyard in Mobile, where it has been undergoing scheduled maintenance since July 2025.
The USNS Mercy, commissioned in 1986, departed San Diego last July for a one-year scheduled maintenance period at Alabama Shipyard under an $18.7 million firm-fixed-price contract for a 153-calendar day mid-term availability, including drydocking. The contract, awarded in June 2025, marked the Mercy’s first visit to Mobile.
AIS data currently shows both U.S. Navy hospital ships—the USNS Mercy and her sister ship USNS Comfort—moored at the Mobile shipyard. Alabama Shipyard announced on January 23 that the arrival of USNS Comfort marked “the first time in 30 years” that the two hospital ships have been alongside one another, calling it “a historic moment.”
Photos from late January showed the USNS Mercy still in drydock at that time.
The USNS Comfort arrived at Mobile in late January and is scheduled to undergo maintenance through late April.
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Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen graciously told Trump thanks but no thanks to his offer in an early Sunday Facebook post:
Am 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. Happy Sunday to you all
