The Navy Ship Nobody is Allowed to Target

[SewerGuyApache]

Just like battlefield medics, they aren’t allowed to be killed but still were

[YigitCanAydinSS]

"In WW2 a japanese" was all I needed to hear

[CombatConfessions-vi]

if international rules worked no wars would start in first place

[richardlahan]

Hospital ships are operated by civilian merchant marine crews, not naval surface warfare crews. They are allowed strictly defensive armament (usually .50 caliber M2 machine guns) in case they are attacked.

[RoughingleOfficial]

On the 14th May 1943. The A.H.S (Australian Hospital Ship) Centaur was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. She sank very quickly and 332 people died out of the 64 survivors. After the incident it was seen as a war crime but the Japanese denied the attack.

[Tankolanko]

There are no rules in war when everyone has their own rules.

[turntjosh]

Gotta be a different type of insane to kamakazee into a med ship

[Sponge_]

Germans: hold my beer
Poland: not again

[turborally_milo]

If only rules worked... that would never start a single war.

[samfromportadown]

The British hospital ship HMHS _Britannic_ was sunk in the Mediterranean in WW1 by a German mine. While hospital ships can't be deliberately targeted, anti-ship mines can't tell a hospital ship from any other kind of ship, so hospital ships are still at risk in waters that have been mined. Well, a modern anti ship mine could probably be equipped with some sort of AI that would identify a hospital ship and not explode, but this was not the case during historical wars.

[AtypickyKraken]

In WWI, these vessels were often considered legitimate targets - HMHS Glenart Castle was torpedoed by the submarine U-56 with massive casualties, only one lifeboat was found, the German captain didnt suffer any consequences. The same went for HMHS Rewa - that one was sunk by UB-55, with only three known casualties killed directly by the torpedo impact, but still, if the ship is clearly marked as a medical vessel, that is a war crime.

[Dilligaf-ms]

In ww1 a British hospital ship was torpedoed and everyone screamed war crime. Now in theory it was because the German u boat captain didn’t know, however munitions were found when dives were done in the late 90’s due to a diary being found that was written either by one of the crew or one of the dr’s (I can’t remember), that men the fact it had picked up troops and munitions in somewhere like Egypt. At that point it was no longer a hospital ship no matter the colour or the Red Cross on its side it was a troop transport carrying munitions.

This is the same reason that to me makes hospitals in Gaza valid targets if you are carrying and/or storing troops and/or weapons you are combatant and can be considered as such.

[rodenyhasey]

Thank thank you for even helping the the bad guys❤

[csd]

AHS Centaur. Australian Hospital Ship (AHS) Centaur was a hospital ship which was attacked and sunk by a Japanese submarine off the coast of Queensland, Australia, on 14 May 1943.

[dallasyap]

Basically anything that's clearly marked with a red cross cannot be attacked unless they're engage in hostile acts in which they forfeit their non-combatant privelege.

[DietrichTöpfer]

For everyone commenting "WhAt AbOuT bRiTtaNicA", it was not attacked. It hit an undersea mine and was not targeted.

[mickaels.]

rules are only on papers, there is no rules in a battlefield ...

[imathing]

I love the cute names they have like "comfort" and "mercy" ❤

[ChristianMatzen-rn]

The danish ship “jutlandia” was a hospital ship in the Korean War and it was attacked many times

[Terence]

I was reading about hospital ships 1 hour ago, this popped up