Legal Status
Modern hospital ships display large Red Crosses or Red Crescents to signify their Geneva convention protection under the laws of war. Even so, marked vessels have not been completely free from attack. During both WW I and WW II (see Lists of hospital ships sunk in either war), noncombatant markings did not stop the sinking of a number of hospital ships by either side. In one peculiar case, a British air attack in 1945 sank the German ship SS Deutschland with substantial loss of life. In the war's closing days, this ship may have been in the process of conversion to a hospital ship. If so, it apparently had not been sufficiently marked as a hospital ship, perhaps owing to the chaos surrounding the collapse of military and civilian authority in Nazi Germany.
Some hospital ships, such as the SS Hope, belong to civilian agencies, and as such are not part of any navy.
The British Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship RFA Argus would be a hospital ship were it not for its armaments. When performing its medical role it is designated a 'primary casualty receiving ship'.
Armed vessels are disqualified from protection as a hospital ship under international law.
Read more about this topic: Hospital Ship
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