Austal USA press release
The EMS will be manufactured in Austal USA’s aluminum manufacturing line following completion of the last Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF 16).
“This award is further evidence of the Navy’s confidence in Austal USA to produce highly-capable, shallow-draft aluminum multi-hull vessels,” commented acting Austal USA President Michelle Kruger. “We are proud to provide this innovative critical care capability to the men and women who defend our county.”
The Expeditionary Medical Ship (EMS), an Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF) variant, is a cost-effective design providing a dedicated medical ship optimized to provide patient holding, stabilization, evacuation and transport in support of Distributed Maritime Operations (DMO). The EMS design features a shallow draft which enables greater reach and allows for direct access to austere ports. The flight deck will accommodate military aircraft, including the V-22 and H-53K.
Austal USA has delivered 13 EPFs, a predecessor to the EMS design, to the U.S. Navy. The company is preparing to deliver the first EPF Flight II, the future USNS Cody (EPF 14), which features Role 2E medical capability, and has two more Flight II vessels under construction.
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Naval News comments on Expeditionary Medical Ship:
The first EMS will be known as USNS Bethesda (EMS 1). The vessel is expected to be built at Austal USA shipyard in Mobile, Alabama. Austal’s Expeditionary Medical Ship design was unveiled for the first time at Sea Air Space 2021. Austal’s EMS project is a “clean sheet design based on the existing expeditionary fast transport (EPF) design”. The EMS however is larger and features a redesigned hull form to give it better sea keeping in higher sea states.
The EMS design predated the COVID-19 pandemic, but the project picked up steam in the summer of 2020 to update the design based on lessons learned at the peak of the crisis.
According to the specifications released during Sea Air Space 2021, the original EMS design was a 118 meters-long catamaran hull with a beam of 30 meters and a draft of 4.5 meters. The ship initially had a range of 2,000 nautical miles at a cruise speed of 18 knots and with a top speed of 27 knots. Note that these performance figures have been improved since the US Navy press release now mentions “speeds of at least 30 knots with a range of 5,500 nautical miles at 24 knots.”
The EMS features a helicopter deck large enough to accommodate one V-22 Osprey, a CH-53 Sea Stallion or a Sikorsky H-60. The ship has a total of 185 berthing including the crew, medical and aviation personnel.
Regarding its medical facilities, the EMS would have 124 medical beds in total including four operating rooms, 8 isolation beds, 32 light care beds and 80 ER, ACW, ICU and recovery beds. In comparison, the Mercy-class hospital ships are larger, with a length of 272 meters and a 1,000 beds capacity.
Updated EMS design at Indo Pacific 2023:
At this year’s Indo Pacific 2023 show in Australia, Austal was showcasing an updated design for its EMS featuring shorter hull and inverted bows.
The new / latest specifications of the EMS are as follow (as of November 2023):
Length: 361 feet (110 meters)
Beam: 103 feet (31.5 meters)
Draft: 15 feet (4.6 meters)
Speed (full load): 18+ knots
Speed (Sea State 5): 15 knots
Range: 5,000+ nautical miles at 18 knots
Flight operations: 1x V-22, H-53 or H-60
Crew, medical det. & aviation det. berthing: 223
Medical facilities:
- Acute care: 34
- Acute isolation: 6
- ICU: 14
- ICU isolation: 6
- Operating rooms: 3
