President Donald Trump sent off the USNS Comfort to New York City Saturday, even as workers rushed to dredge the city’s harbor to make it deep enough to fit.
The Comfort is one of the U.S. Navy’s two hospital ships, and it will provide NYC with 1,000 much-needed additional beds. Workers have been hurriedly dredging NYC’s Pier 90 to make space for the massive vessel which is set to arrive later Saturday, according to the Daily Mail. The company doing the work is confident they will get the job done, however, with bureaucratic approvals coming through in record time. (RELATED: Senior WHO Official Cuts Off Interview When Reporter Implies Taiwan Isn’t Part Of China)
“When America says jump, we don’t ask why. We ask how high. That is what the U.S. dredging industry does – day in and day out,” Dredging Contractors of America CEO William Doyle told the Mail.
ATLANTIC OCEAN (Oct. 1, 2017) The Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20), center, conducts an underway replenishment with the dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS William McLean (T-AKE 12), left, and the fast combat support ship USNS Supply (T-AOE 6) (U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Ernest R. Scott/Released)
#LIVENOW: President Donald J. Trump & Defense Secretary Dr. Mark T. Esper speak to reporters in Norfolk, Va., before the #USNavy hospital ship #USNSComfort leaves to support the nation’s #COVID19 response efforts in New York City. https://t.co/TFpr7VZDdH
— U.S. Navy (@USNavy) March 28, 2020
Licensing for the dredging was obtained in less 12 hours according to the contracted company, Donjon Marine Co., Inc. (RELATED: Mitch McConnell Restructures Campaign Into Meals Effort For Kentuckians Affected By Coronavirus)
Thomas Witte, the company’s dredging director, said he didn’t think approvals came that fast even after 9/11. Still, workers needed every hour they had.
The Comfort’s sister ship, the USNS Mercy, is already in Los Angeles.