Type 920 hospital ship

The Type 920 Hospital Ship is a class of hospital ship in the People's Liberation Army Navy of the Peoples' Republic of China.

920 is the type of the ship. 866 is the PLA Navy side number of this ship, 岱山岛号 (Daishandao) is the navy name, 和平方舟 (Peace Ark) is the name in peacetime.

History
Launched in 2007, China is one of a few nations with naval floating hospitals. The Chinese rationale for the ship was to give China a platform to provide a better means to providing quicker humanitarian response to disasters around the world, but others contend it also allows China to extend the navy's blue water capabilities. The single ship of the class has a pennant number 866. The ship is assigned to the East Sea Fleet and based out of Daishandao. The ship has 300 beds, 20 ICUs, 8 operating theatres, and the capacity to accommodate 40 major surgeries a day – about as many as a large hospital in Beijing. The ship is unarmed and painted white with red crosses to conform to the Geneva Convention criteria for a civilian hospital ship.

Mission


On September 1, 2010, the hospital ship embarked on a three months mission to the Gulf of Aden with a total of 428 officers including 100 medical workers. En route it will also visit and provide medical treatment to the local people of Djibouti, Tanzania, Kenya, the Seychelles and Bangladesh.