White ship, red crosses. Hospital ships in the Falklands War.
During the 1982 Anglo-Argentine War over the Falkland Islands, both warring parties used hospital ships and ambulances to evacuate, provide medical care, treat and repatriate the wounded and sick.
The legal status of hospital ships is defined by the 1949 Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick, and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea. Previously, it was defined by the Geneva Conventions of 1906 and 1929, as well as the Tenth Hague Convention of 1907, which applied the principles of the Geneva Convention to naval warfare.
In the event of hostilities between land and naval forces of Parties to the conflict, the provisions of this Convention shall apply only to forces embarked on ships. Such forces, when disembarked, shall immediately be subject to the provisions of the Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field of 12 August 1949.
Let us briefly review the main provisions of the Convention.
Military hospital ships may not be attacked or captured under any circumstances during military operations. They must be respected and protected at all times, provided that their names and characteristics are communicated to the parties to the conflict 10 days prior to their deployment.
Hospital ships used by National Red Cross Societies shall enjoy the same protection, provided that they have placed themselves under the authority of a Party to the conflict with the previous consent of their Government and with the authorization of the Party to the conflict concerned.
Hospital ships are obliged to provide aid and assistance to the wounded, sick, and shipwrecked, regardless of nationality. Belligerent states must not use these ships for any military purposes.
Belligerents have the right to control and inspect hospital ships. They may refuse their assistance, order them to leave, monitor the use of their radio equipment and other means of communication, and detain them for up to seven days from the time of inspection, if circumstances so require. Belligerents may temporarily appoint a commissioner to oversee the execution of their orders. They may station neutral observers on their hospital ships.
Hospital ships captured by the enemy during the capture of a port must be allowed to leave that port.
Hospital ships must be painted white and display large red crosses on their sides and horizontal surfaces, clearly visible at sea and from the air. They fly their national flag and a flag with a red cross at the mainmast. However, for countries that already use a red crescent or a red lion and sun on a white field as their distinguishing emblem, instead of a red cross, these emblems are equally permitted within the meaning of this Convention.
Under no circumstances may hospital ships be armed, the crews of these ships and the personnel of the ship's hospitals may have weapon To maintain order, for self-defense, and to protect the wounded and sick. Coded communications are not permitted.
Hospital ships may be deprived of the protection established by the Convention if, in addition to the performance of humanitarian duties, they are used to commit acts directed against the enemy.
Wounded, sick, and shipwrecked members of a belligerent who fall into enemy hands will be considered prisoners of war, and the rules of international law governing prisoners of war will apply. The captor has the right to decide, depending on the circumstances, whether to retain them, send them to his own port, a neutral port, or even an enemy port. In the latter case, prisoners of war thus returned to their country will be unable to serve for the duration of the war.
The wounded, sick and shipwrecked, landed in a neutral port with the consent of the local authorities, shall, unless the neutral Power has agreed to the contrary with the belligerent Powers, be detained by the neutral Power in such a way that, where required by international law, they cannot again take part in hostilities.
Merchant ships converted into hospital ships cannot be used for other purposes during the entire war.
The protection to which hospital ships and sick bays are entitled may cease only if they are used, beyond their humanitarian duties, to commit acts directed against the enemy. Protection, however, will cease only after due warning has been given, in all appropriate cases setting a reasonable time limit, and after such warning has failed to produce results.
The medical, hospital, and religious personnel of hospital ships and their crews shall be respected and protected; they may not be captured while serving on hospital ships, whether or not there are wounded or sick on board.
Medical aircraft, that is to say, aircraft exclusively used for the evacuation of the wounded, sick, and shipwrecked, as well as for the transport of medical personnel and equipment, will not be attacked, but will be respected by Parties to the conflict, while flying at altitudes, at times, and along routes expressly agreed upon between the Parties to the conflict concerned. Except in cases of agreement to the contrary, flight over enemy or enemy-occupied territory is prohibited.
At the outbreak of the conflict, the Royal Navy had 425 medical personnel, including 103 doctors, on the ships of Task Force 317 and mobilised civilian ships (STUFT - Ships Taken Up From Trade), in addition to 40 naval reservist doctors who were called up.
At the time, only the royal yacht Britannia was available for use as a hospital ship in Great Britain, but her capacity was quite limited—only 200 berths. The yacht's use in this capacity was envisaged from the ordering and design stages: the tender of August 21, 1939, stipulated that "the new ship must provide suitable accommodation for the royal family and their guests, but must also be readily convertible into a naval hospital should the need arise during a conflict. Such a transformation must be accomplished not only in the shortest possible time, but also at minimal cost."
HMY Britannia
Therefore, it was decided to requisition from the trade fleet A suitable vessel was needed and converted into a hospital ship. The choice fell on the P&O passenger steamship Uganda.
Built in 1952 for the British India Steam Navigation Company, this cargo-passenger vessel had a speed of 19 knots and could initially accommodate up to 300 passengers in two-class cabins. The steam turbine ship also had five cargo holds, 708 cubic meters of which were refrigerated.
Uganda during operations on the UK-East African route
The liner operated on the route from the ports of Great Britain to the ports of East Africa (via Gibraltar - Naples - Port Said - Aden - Mombasa - Dar es Salaam - Tanga - Beira) until 1967, when aviation Air travel made it unprofitable.
Therefore, it was decided to expand the capabilities of the ship and use it also as a training ship for schoolchildren, who, under the care of their class teachers and teachers, were to become familiar with geography and history regions visited (the Mediterranean and Scandinavia). For this purpose, dormitory-style accommodations for 930 people were installed in one of the holds. The ship also received an air conditioning system and other modern features.
Uganda after refit
Emblem of the steamship "Uganda"
The decision to requisition the ship on April 10th arrived in Alexandria, from where it was urgently rerouted to Naples. There, specialists from the Ministry of Defence, P&O, and the medical sector were already awaiting it, urgently developing options for converting it into a hospital ship for 1000 patients.
After dropping off schoolchildren singing the Rule Britannia anthem and other passengers in Naples, the ship sailed to Gibraltar, where workers at the local shipyard converted it into a floating hospital in a Stakhanovite 65 hours.
Work on converting the Uganda into a hospital ship
The Uganda in Gibraltar during conversion to a hospital ship.
The ship was equipped with an emergency room, surgical, resuscitation, burn, intensive care units, laboratories, a morgue, X-ray equipment, and more. Additional bathrooms and toilets for patients were also installed. The aircraft from the UK delivered 90 tons of medication and medical equipment, as well as a 250-bed mobile hospital.
Admissions Department
Operating room
Intensive care unit
A runway capable of accommodating the heaviest helicopters was built at the stern; the vessel received a RAS (Replenishment at Sea) system for transferring liquid cargo by the traverse method, a satellite communication system, and two additional reverse osmosis desalination units.
The runway at the stern of the Uganda
A Chinook helicopter lands on the Uganda runway.
A reverse osmosis desalination plant. During the Uganda's service as a hospital ship, two such plants produced 6182 tons of fresh water from 10750 tons of used water.
HMHS Uganda and HMS Hydra receive liquid cargo from tanker RFA Olmeda while underway using the beam method using the RAS system.
The number of medical personnel on board totaled 135. For the first time since the Korean War, 39 members of the Queen Alexandra's Royal Navy Nursing Service (QARNNS) were at sea.
Uganda's medical staff
Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service Emblem
QARNNS nurses on board the Uganda
QARNNS nurses undergo training in the operating room
A 24-member Marine Band also arrived on board. They were tasked with transporting the wounded from the helicopter landing strip to medical units and also serving as nurses, for which they had received the necessary training. In their free time, the musicians performed concerts for patients and medical staff.
Members of the Royal Marines Band carry a wounded man on a stretcher.
On April 19, HMHS Uganda (HMHS — Her Majesty's Hospital Ship) departed Gibraltar and, after replenishing supplies in Freetown and Ascension Island (where additional medical equipment was delivered by air), arrived at the Red Cross Box on May 11. This area, 20 nautical miles in diameter, was located 45 miles north of the Falklands, and, according to an agreement between the governments of the United Kingdom and Argentina, hospital ships from both warring parties could safely dock there. All these ships were regularly inspected by representatives of the International Red Cross.
Representatives of the International Red Cross arrived on board the Argentine hospital ship ARA Almirante Irizar for an inspection.
HMHS Uganda
HMHS Uganda, with the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes in the background
The first patients of the Uganda on May 12 were wounded and burned crew members of the destroyer HMS Sheffield, which was hit by the Argentine rocket 4 May.
On May 14, the ambulance ship HMS Hecla (A133) arrived at the Red Cross Box, and on May 19, it was joined by its sister ships, HMS Hydra (A144) and HMS Herald (H138). These 2800-ton vessels, former oceanographic and hydrographic survey vessels of the Navy, were hastily converted into ambulance transports in accordance with the Geneva Convention. Each vessel could accommodate up to 100 wounded. During the voyage, 50 crew members, supervised by ship's doctors, were trained in casualty care. A key advantage of these vessels was their onboard helicopter, runway, and hangar, and during the conversion, they were also equipped with a RAS system.
Ambulance ship HMS Hecla
HMHS Uganda, nicknamed "Mother Hen", accompanied by her "chickens" - the ambulance transports HMS Hecla, HMS Hydra and HMS Herald
The ambulance transports were tasked with delivering the wounded and sick to the Uganda, providing them with first aid if necessary. Those patients who recovered or were stabilized on board the hospital ship were transported to Montevideo, Uruguay, for evacuation by VC10 medical aircraft to their homeland, as their further participation in combat was prohibited by the Geneva Convention. Thus, HMS Hydra alone delivered 251 patients to Montevideo in four voyages, and HMS Herald 163 in two voyages. Each voyage lasted approximately four days.
HMS Hydra alongside HMHS Uganda
One of 80 wounded soldiers being transferred from HMHS Uganda to HMS Hydra
A Royal Air Force VC10 air ambulance aircraft
After British troops landed on East Falkland on May 21, it became clear that immediate aid to the wounded required being as close to the battlefield and field hospitals as possible. Therefore, during the day, the Uganda moved to Grantham Sound and, at night, to avoid the brightly lit ship serving as a landmark for Argentine pilots, returned to the Red Cross Box.
Uganda in William Sound, East Falkland
Map of the Falkland Islands
After the Argentine surrender on June 14, only two British ships with red crosses remained in the Falklands: HMHS Uganda and HMS Hydra. On July 18, a fully equipped field hospital was established on shore, and the Uganda was converted into a troop transport for the repatriation of servicemen to their homeland. On August 9, the ship arrived in Southampton, having traveled 22,709 miles in 113 days.
HMS Hecla welcomed back to Devonport
Uganda's meeting in Southampton
During this time, the floating hospital accepted 730 patients, including 150 Argentines, and performed 554 surgical operations. Ninety-one percent of the patients (666) were directly injured during the fighting. Typically, the number of patients arriving daily ranged from 40 to 70, but on one occasion, helicopters delivered 159 casualties in four hours. At times, more than three hundred patients were on board at once. The most critical situation arose after the Argentine air strike on the landing ship RFA Sir Galahed, when 179 casualties were brought on board in three hours, 83 of them with burns of varying severity. During the entire military action, only three patients died on board the Uganda.
Welsh Guardsmen who suffered burns on the landing ship RFA Sir Galahed are seen in the burns unit of the Uganda.
A QARNNS nurse attends to wounded soldiers of 3 Para (3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment)
The helicopters made 1063 landings and transported 3111 people, including Argentines who were transferred to their hospital ships in four cases.
An ambulance helicopter lands at a Ugandan airstrip.
Throughout the conflict, the staff of the hospital courts of the warring parties maintained close business contacts, exchanging both patients and urgently needed medications, etc.
An Argentine air ambulance helicopter lands on a Ugandan runway.
Wounded Argentine prisoners of war treated aboard the Uganda await transfer to an Argentine hospital ship.
Argentine doctor Pascual Pellicari among his British colleagues on board the Uganda
HMS Hydra remained in the Falklands until the end of August, visiting remote settlements whose residents had not received medical care since the Argentine invasion. Previously, local air forces provided medical care, but these were destroyed during the fighting. The ambulance did not return home until September 24, having traveled more than 28,000 miles in four months.
Falklands War veteran Nicci Pugh, a former operating room nurse for the USS Uganda, is seen among QARNNS officers during the launch of her book, "White Ship Red Crosses: A Nursing Memoir of the Falklands War" (2022).
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