Washington, 22 February 2026 (dpa/MIA) - The United States plans to send a naval hospital ship to Greenland, President Donald Trump has said, signalling a move that could heighten existing tensions with NATO ally Denmark.

The vessel would "take care of the many people who are sick, and not being taken care of there," Trump wrote on Saturday evening on his Truth Social mouthpiece.

"It's on the way!!!" he added, calling it a "great" hospital boat and illustrating his post with a picture of a ship bearing the name of one of two US hospital ships: USNS Mercy. He provided no further details.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen responded on Sunday to Trump's latest statement with a dig at the US, without directly mentioning the president or his country.

Posting on Instagram, Frederiksen said she was glad to "live in a country where all people have free and equal access to healthcare" and where "insurance and wealth do not determine whether you receive adequate treatment." Greenland takes the same approach, she added.

Trump's repeated threats in recent weeks to potentially annex Greenland, a Danish territory of strategic importance, have strained relations between Europe and the United States.

European countries including Germany, Britain and France support support Denmark and Greenland in rejecting a US takeover of the Arctic territory.

Talks between Copenhagen, Nuuk and the Trump administration are ongoing to seek a compromise.

Unclear deployment mission

The US Navy operates two large hospital ships, each with about 1,000 beds, including 80 intensive care units.

These vessels have previously been deployed after natural disasters such as earthquakes or hurricanes, and temporarily served US ports during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Both are currently believed to be undergoing repairs in the United States.

Greenland, with a population of around 57,000, has not recently reported a significant medical need that would require the deployment of a hospital ship.

The country's defence minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, told Danish broadcaster DR on Sunday that Denmark had not been informed of Trump's plans for the hospital ship.

Poulsen also assured that Greenland would receive the necessary medical care from Denmark.

Greenland's public health system includes local clinics and Queen Ingrid Hospital in the capital Nuuk for complex cases, with occasional medical evacuations to Denmark.

US ships currently in dry dock

It is unclear to what extent and how quickly the two hospital ships will be operational.

At the end of January, a shipyard in Mobile, Alabama, said on Facebook that the USNS Comfort had also arrived there, meaning that both hospital ships were now in dry dock.

According to earlier statements by the Pentagon, work on the Comfort was scheduled to continue until the end of April.

The ship traffic website Vesselfinder last located both ships in Mobile. Current data was only available for the USNS Mercy on Sunday morning, with the latest information for the USNS Comfort dating to the start of the month.

Although Trump wrote that a ship was on its way, it normally takes some time to fully staff a hospital ship. In normal operation, when the ships are at anchor, only a minimal crew is on board.

US submarine incident

On Saturday, a crew member of a US submarine had to be evacuated from Greenlandic territorial waters due to a medical emergency, according to a Facebook post by the Danish Arctic Command.

A Danish military helicopter picked up the person from the submarine and took them to a hospital in Nuuk.

It was initially unclear whether there was any connection between Trump's announcement and the incident.

Photo: Trump Truth Social