The Military Sealift Command (MSC) hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) pulls into Naval Station Mayport, Florida, September 5, 2005, to take on supplies on their way to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina. The Navy's involvement in the Hurricane Katrina humanitarian assistance operations is led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in conjunction with the Department of Defense. (REUTERS/Ian S. Elias/U.S. Navy/Handout )
The Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort is anchored off the coast of Haiti January 26, 2010. Patients are treated for a variety of the most serious earthquake-related injuries aboard the U.S. Navy's hospital ship Comfort stationed in Haiti. (REUTERS/Eliana Aponte )
A Haitian is operated on at the The Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort anchored off the coast of Haiti January 26, 2010. Patients are treated for a variety of the most serious earthquake-related injuries aboard the U.S. Navy's hospital ship Comfort stationed in Haiti. (REUTERS/Eliana Aponte )
The Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort sails under the Francis Scott Key Bridge in morning fog and snow flurries, as it leaves the port of Baltimore, Maryland, January 6, 2002. The 1,000 bed ship, last deployedfor war during Operation Desert Storm in 1990-91, is headed to theIndian Ocean as part of a broad mobilzation of air, land, and seaforces in preparation to aid in a possible invasion of Iraq. (REUTERS/Joe Giza)
The U.S. Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) is anchored off the coast of Port-au-Prince, Haiti January 20, 2010. Comfort is conducting humanitarian and disaster relief operations as part of Operation Unified Response after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake caused severe damage in Haiti on January 12. (REUTERS/Troy D. Miller/U.S. Navy photo/Handout )
Flight deck crew carry a wounded Iraqi woman on a stretcher from a CH-60 Army Medivac helicopter on the Hospital Ship USNS Comfort in the Gulf, April 1, 2003. The Comfort is treating US-led forces ervicemen,Enemy Prisoners of War (EPW), Iraqi detainees and civilians forinjuries received during Operation Iraqi Freedom. (REUTERS/John Schults)
New York's Empire State Building (R) looms over the skyline as theHospital Ship USNS Comfort sits ocked in Manhattan, September 17,2001. The ship deployed to New York to render assistance following theSeptember 11 attack on the New York's Empire State Building (R) looms over the skyline as theHospital Ship USNS Comfort sits docked in Manhattan, September 17,2001. The ship deployed to New York to render assistance following theSeptember 11 attack on the World Trade Center. (REUTERS/U.S. Navy-Eric J. Tilford)