U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday that the United States is preparing to send a hospital ship to Greenland, describing the move as a humanitarian effort
to address unmet medical needs on the Arctic island.
“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,” Trump wrote in a social media post. He later added that the vessel was already “on the way,” sharing an illustration of the U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS Mercy.
Trump said the effort would be carried out in coordination with Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, whom the president recently named as his special envoy to Greenland. The appointment came as Trump renewed his long-standing interest in expanding U.S. influence over the self-governing Danish territory, which he has repeatedly described as strategically important to American national security.
No immediate explanation was given for what triggered the announcement. The White House and the Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment, and officials in Denmark and Greenland also remained silent.
Landry echoed Trump’s message in a separate post, saying he was “proud to work” with the president on what he called an important issue.
The U.S. Navy operates two hospital ships — the USNS Mercy and the USNS Comfort — which are typically deployed to support military operations or provide disaster relief and humanitarian assistance.
According to Reuters and other news organizations, Trump’s post came just hours after Denmark’s Joint Arctic Command announced it had evacuated an American crew member from a U.S. submarine operating in Greenlandic waters for urgent medical treatment. Officials did not say whether that incident was connected to Trump’s decision to send a hospital ship. Photo by U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jeremy M. Starr, Wikimedia commons.