Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday welcomed the arrival of a Navy hospital ship that will relieve New York hospitals dealing with a rapidly expanding load of coronavirus patients.

The USNS Comfort will provide roughly 1,000 hospital beds, and 1,200 personnel to New York, Cuomo said on Twitter. It will be used to treat patients who don't have COVID-19 to free up other hospital rooms for coronavirus patients, the governor has previously said.

President Donald Trump ordered the dispatch earlier this month of the USNS Comfort to New York and her twin, the USNS Mercy, to Los Angeles to assist with the outbreak there.

The USNS Mercy arrived in Los Angeles last Friday.

The vessels, which were transformed from hulking oil tankers, are nearly three football fields long and 10 stories high, making them the largest hospital ships in the world.

Cuomo has repeatedly warned that the coronavirus epidemic in New York threatens to overwhelm the health-care system.

Last week, he said the state estimates it will need 140,000 hospital beds by early to mid-April. The state normally has about 53,000 beds, he said.

Temporary additions to the state's hospital system, such as the use of the Comfort, are aimed at boosting the state's capacity to treat patients.