when she was delivered to the U.S. Navy on 1 December 1987. After a quarter-century in Baltimore, Maryland, Comfort changed her homeport to Naval Station Norfolk in Norfolk, Virginia in March 2013. The move placed the ship closer to supplies, much of which come from Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, and to medical crew. Savings to the U.S. Navy are estimated at $2 million per year. Deployments Persian Gulf War (1990–91) During the Persian Gulf War's Operation Desert Storm, Comfort received a call to activate for Desert Shield/Desert Storm 9 August 1990 and departed Baltimore 11 August. Comfort was positioned in proximity to Kuwait, just off the coast of Saudi Arabia near Khafji. On 12 March 1991, Comfort was under way on her return trip home. She arrived in Baltimore on 15 April 1991. While deployed, Comfort traveled more than and consumed almost of fuel. More than 8,000 outpatients were seen, and 700 inpatients were admitted including four sailors injured in a high-pressure steam leak on . 337 surgical procedures were performed. Other notable benchmarks include: more than 2,100 safe helicopter activities; 7,000 prescriptions filled; 17,000 laboratory tests completed; 1,600 eyeglasses made; 800,000 meals served and 1,340 radiographic studies, including 141 CT scans. Operation Sea Signal (1994) Comfort was ordered to activation to serve as migrant processing center for Haitian migrants in 1994. During this mission, Comfort served as the first afloat migrant processing center. She set out for the Caribbean with a crew of 928 military and civilian personnel from various federal government and international agencies. On 16 June 1994 the first Haitian migrants were taken aboard. Over the months deployed, the population onboard swelled to 1,100. Shortly after, Comfort was ordered to discontinue processing and sailed for Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba to drop off the remaining 400 migrants. Operation Uphold Democracy (1994) On 2 September 1994, Comfort was again directed to activate for an unprecedented second deployment. Comfort was tasked to provide a 250-bed medically intensive patient capability for the 35,000 Cuban and Haitian migrants supported by Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Comfort departed Naval Base Norfolk, Virginia, with a specially configured crew of 566 personnel. Following the diplomatic agreement reached between the United States and Haiti, Comfort took up a position off Port-au-Prince ready to receive casualties that might result from the transfer of U.S. and allied forces ashore. From 16 September through 2 October 1994, Comfort