The hospital ship USNS Mercy left the Alabama Shipyard on Tuesday and is now heading south through the Gulf of Mexico at about 10.5 knots. This marks the end of several months of repairs, but there are still questions about where the ship is going next.

Mercy’s departure comes just days after President Donald Trump announced on social media that a hospital ship would be sent to Greenland, saying, “it’s on the way!!!” However, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, the Prime Minister of Greenland, politely rejected this idea, pointing out that Greenland already has a universal public healthcare system.

The timing of Mercy’s departure has brought a lot of attention. The ship, which has 1,000 beds, was expected to return to the West Coast for scheduled maintenance costing $90 million at Vigor Industrial in Portland, starting in March. A Navy spokesperson mentioned that the repairs done in Alabama were urgent fixes for a ballast tank issue and were separate from the required regulatory docking and inspection work that is coming up.

Maritime analyst Sal Mercogliano has pointed out that the ship is set to return to the West Coast and will be available for shipyard work in Oregon through September 2026.

USNS Mercy is on the move from Alabama Shipyard, where it had been in drydock for ballast tank repairs. The hospital ship was previously scheduled to return to the West Coast in March, but its current destination is unclear following President Trump’s post about deploying a… pic.twitter.com/TzEKPM6zMM

— Mike Schuler (@MikeSchuler) February 24, 2026

Mercy’s departure comes after a report from the Wall Street Journal, which stated that U.S. officials had not given any orders to send a hospital ship, including USNS Mercy, to Greenland, despite President Trump’s claim on social media that it was “on the way.”