The massive USNS Mercy hospital ship glided into the Port of Los Angeles early Friday morning, March 27, as hospitals around the region deal with increasing cases of the novel coronavirus.

The ship sailed past the breakwater — dwarfing the familiar harbor landmarks and vessels around it, such as the Angels Gate Lighthouse — and arrived at the World Cruise Center, in San Pedro, shortly before 8:30 a.m.

Two tugboats helped the 894-foot vessel enter the port, with the final approach taking about 20 minutes once the ship passed the jetty.

The US Navy ship Mercy arrives in the port of Los Angeles Friday, March 27, 2020. The ship will not take on patients with coronavirus but will take other patients so hospitals will have more space for COVID-19 patients. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

The US Naval Hospital Ship Mercy arrives in the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro on Friday, March 27, 2020. The ship has 1,000 beds and will be use to treat non-coronavirus patients freeing up hospital beds in the fight against the pandemic. (Photo by Brittany Murray, Press-Telegram/SCNG)

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The hospital ship USS Mercy made it’s way from San Diego and docked at the cruise ship terminal at the Port of Los Angeles Friday morning March 27, 2020. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)

California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks in front of the hospital ship US Naval Ship Mercy that arrived into the Port of Los Angeles on Friday, March 27, 2020, to provide relief for Southland hospitals overwhelmed by the coronavirus pandemic. Also attending the press conference were Robert Fenton, FEMA Regional Administrator for Region 9, far left, Director Mark Ghilarducci, Cal OES, second from left, Mayor Eric Garcetti, second from right, and Dr. Mark Ghaly, Secretary of Health and Human Services, far right. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times via AP, Pool)

The hospital ship USS Mercy made it’s way from San Diego and docked at the cruise ship terminal at the Port of Los Angeles Friday morning March 27, 2020. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)



The US Naval Hospital Ship Mercy arrives in the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro on Friday, March 27, 2020. The ship has 1,000 beds and will be use to treat non-coronavirus patients freeing up hospital beds in the fight against the pandemic. (Photo by Brittany Murray, Press-Telegram/SCNG)

The US Navy ship Mercy arrives in the port of Los Angeles Friday, March 27, 2020. The ship will not take on patients with coronavirus but will take other patients so hospitals will have more space for COVID-19 patients. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

The US Navy ship Mercy arrives in the port of Los Angeles Friday, March 27, 2020. The ship will not take on patients with coronavirus but will take other patients so hospitals will have more space for COVID-19 patients. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

The hospital ship USS Mercy made it’s way from San Diego and docked at the cruise ship terminal at the Port of Los Angeles Friday morning March 27, 2020. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)

The hospital ship USS Mercy made it’s way from San Diego and docked at the cruise ship terminal at the Port of Los Angeles Friday morning March 27, 2020. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)



The hospital ship USS Mercy made it’s way from San Diego and docked at the cruise ship terminal at the Port of Los Angeles Friday morning March 27, 2020. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti speaks at a press conference in front of the USNS Mercy, docked at the Port of Los Angeles, on Friday, March 27. Photo: Via Newsom’s Twitter

The hospital ship USS Mercy made it’s way from San Diego and docked at the cruise ship terminal at the Port of Los Angeles Friday morning March 27, 2020. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)

The hospital ship USS Mercy made it’s way from San Diego and docked at the cruise ship terminal at the Port of Los Angeles Friday morning March 27, 2020. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)

The hospital ship USS Mercy made it’s way from San Diego and docked at the cruise ship terminal at the Port of Los Angeles Friday morning March 27, 2020. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)



The hospital ship USS Mercy made it’s way from San Diego and docked at the cruise ship terminal at the Port of Los Angeles Friday morning March 27, 2020. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)

The hospital ship USS Mercy made it’s way from San Diego and docked at the cruise ship terminal at the Port of Los Angeles Friday morning March 27, 2020. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)

The hospital ship USS Mercy made it’s way from San Diego and docked at the cruise ship terminal at the Port of Los Angeles Friday morning March 27, 2020. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)

The hospital ship USS Mercy made it’s way from San Diego and docked at the cruise ship terminal at the Port of Los Angeles Friday morning March 27, 2020. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)

About 100 spectators showed up to document the arrival of the US Naval Hospital Ship Mercy in the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro on Friday, March 27, 2020. The ship has 1,000 beds and will be use to treat non-coronavirus patients freeing up hospital beds in the fight against the pandemic. (Photo by Brittany Murray, Press-Telegram/SCNG)



The hospital ship USS Mercy made it’s way from San Diego and docked at the cruise ship terminal at the Port of Los Angeles Friday morning March 27, 2020. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)

The US Naval Hospital Ship Mercy arrives in the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro on Friday, March 27, 2020. The ship has 1,000 beds and will be use to treat non-coronavirus patients freeing up hospital beds in the fight against the pandemic. (Photo by Brittany Murray, Press-Telegram/SCNG)

The hospital ship USS Mercy made it’s way from San Diego and docked at the cruise ship terminal at the Port of Los Angeles Friday morning March 27, 2020. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)

The hospital ship USS Mercy made it’s way from San Diego and docked at the cruise ship terminal at the Port of Los Angeles Friday morning March 27, 2020. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)

The hospital ship USS Mercy made it’s way from San Diego and docked at the cruise ship terminal at the Port of Los Angeles Friday morning March 27, 2020. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)



The hospital ship USS Mercy made it’s way from San Diego and docked at the cruise ship terminal at the Port of Los Angeles Friday morning March 27, 2020. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)

The hospital ship USS Mercy made it’s way from San Diego and docked at the cruise ship terminal at the Port of Los Angeles Friday morning March 27, 2020. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)

The hospital ship USS Mercy made it’s way from San Diego and docked at the cruise ship terminal at the Port of Los Angeles Friday morning March 27, 2020. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)

The hospital ship USS Mercy made it’s way from San Diego and docked at the cruise ship terminal at the Port of Los Angeles Friday morning March 27, 2020. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)

The hospital ship USS Mercy made it’s way from San Diego and docked at the cruise ship terminal at the Port of Los Angeles Friday morning March 27, 2020. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)



The hospital ship USS Mercy made it’s way from San Diego and docked at the cruise ship terminal at the Port of Los Angeles Friday morning March 27, 2020. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)

The hospital ship USS Mercy made it’s way from San Diego and docked at the cruise ship terminal at the Port of Los Angeles Friday morning March 27, 2020. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)



The US Naval Hospital Ship Mercy arrives in the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro on Friday, March 27, 2020. The ship has 1,000 beds and will be use to treat non-coronavirus patients freeing up hospital beds in the fight against the pandemic. (Photo by Brittany Murray, Press-Telegram/SCNG)

The hospital ship USS Mercy made it’s way from San Diego and docked at the cruise ship terminal at the Port of Los Angeles Friday morning March 27, 2020. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)



The US Naval Hospital Ship Mercy arrives in the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro on Friday, March 27, 2020. The ship has 1,000 beds and will be use to treat non-coronavirus patients freeing up hospital beds in the fight against the pandemic. (Photo by Brittany Murray, Press-Telegram/SCNG)

The hospital ship USS Mercy made it’s way from San Diego and docked at the cruise ship terminal at the Port of Los Angeles Friday morning March 27, 2020. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)

The hospital ship USS Mercy made it’s way from San Diego and docked at the cruise ship terminal at the Port of Los Angeles Friday morning March 27, 2020. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)

The hospital ship USS Mercy made it’s way from San Diego and docked at the cruise ship terminal at the Port of Los Angeles Friday morning March 27, 2020. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)

The hospital ship USS Mercy made it’s way from San Diego and docked at the cruise ship terminal at the Port of Los Angeles Friday morning March 27, 2020. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)



The hospital ship USS Mercy made it’s way from San Diego and docked at the cruise ship terminal at the Port of Los Angeles Friday morning March 27, 2020. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)

The US Naval Hospital Ship Mercy arrives in the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro on Friday, March 27, 2020. The ship has 1,000 beds and will be use to treat non-coronavirus patients freeing up hospital beds in the fight against the pandemic. (Photo by Brittany Murray, Press-Telegram/SCNG)

The US Naval Hospital Ship Mercy arrives in the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro on Friday, March 27, 2020. The ship has 1,000 beds and will be use to treat non-coronavirus patients freeing up hospital beds in the fight against the pandemic. (Photo by Brittany Murray, Press-Telegram/SCNG)

Aboard the ship, meanwhile, the crew made final preparations to take on patients. Some of the crew could be seen lining the rails, looking ashore.

Upon its arrival, it became the largest hospital in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said later in the day at a press conference next to the Mercy with Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The Mercy, with 1,000 beds and operating rooms, made its way from San Diego to L.A. so its 800 doctors, nurses and corpsmen and women can care for non-coronavirus patients — and allowing hospitals throughout Los Angeles County to provide focus on those with the respiratory disease.

“This is a COVID-19-free bubble,” Newsom said during the news conference.

Patients are expected to be brought by ambulance to the ship beginning as early as Saturday, March 28, officials said.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who was on hand to greet the ship, said hospital beds in Los Angeles County are now “at about 90% capacity.”

“The main goal is to free up (existing) hospital beds,” she said.

Los Angeles County on Friday announced 257 new cases of the coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, putting the total number of confirmed cases at 1,481 people — tripling the county’s total in less than a week; and the updated total did not include 16 additional cases from Long Beach and one more new case from Pasadena. There have been 26 deaths.

The ship is docked at the cruise terminal, near Harbor Boulevard and Swinford Street — just south of the Vincent Thomas Bridge — to take advantage of the existing infrastructure that allows for gurney and wheelchair transport.

President Donald Trump agreed on Sunday, March 22, to send the Mercy to Los Angeles after multiple California officials requested he do so.

The Mercy, scheduled to stay in Los Angeles until Sept. 1 or as long as needed, is one of two Navy hospital ships; the other one, the USNS Comfort, will be deployed to New York with that arrival now set tentatively for Monday, March 30.

USNS Mercy left Naval Base San Diego on Monday.

“This global crisis demands the whole of government response, and we are ready to support,” said Capt. John Rotruck, Mercy’s military treatment facility commanding officer, said earlier this week. “Mercy brings a team of medical professionals, medical equipment and supplies, all of which will act, in essence, as a ‘relief valve’ for local civilian hospitals in Los Angeles so that local health professionals can better focus on COVID-19 cases.

“We will use our agility and responsiveness as an afloat medical treatment facility,” he added, “to do what the country asks, and bring relief where we are needed most.”

The floating hospitals, designed to treat wounded troops, specialize in trauma cases. Because they have no way to isolate patients, so they are best used for non-COVID-19 cases.

“We can provide capabilities to fill in the gap,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Monday, March 23, during comments he made from the White House.

Several folks stood behind a fence looking at the cruise terminal Friday morning, as the Mercy arrived. One man rode a bicycle while waving an American flag.

Longshore workers from ILWU Locals 13, 63 and 94 all helped guide and tie up the ship.

Garcetti noted at the afternoon news conference that the port is accustomed to seeing active-duty Navy ships, which sail in on Labor Day weekend every year for L.A. Fleet Week.

The Mercy, he said, is only “footsteps” from the Battleship Iowa.

“This truly is mercy on the water,” Garcetti said.

Newsom, meanwhile, said the crew will do “rehearsals” Friday evening, with the first patients potentially arriving the following day.

“Hospitals are bearing a disproportionate responsibility” during the pandemic, the governor said.

California, Newsom said, is rapidly expanding its supply of equipment for health care workers and hospital beds in anticipation of the expected surge in patients that will come as more people are infected. Testing for the virus is accelerating quickly as the state adds locations for the public to get checked, he added.

Newsom said:

Eight sites across the state are in the pipeline to be medical field stations (in coordination with the federal government). Among them: St. Vincent Medical Center in the Westlake district;

Calfornia has already released 31.7 million N95 masks, with 101 million such masks being delivered;

1.4 million sets of gloves have been delivered, with another 1.5 million being procured;

4,000 extra beds have been procured, opened up by releasing non-virus-related patients; and

4,095 ventilators have been identified, with 815 additonal ventilators being refurbished, with a goal of 10,000 to be delivered. L.A. County has gotten 170 from the state so far.

Los Angeles Councilman Joe Buscaino, meanwhile, called on Friday for stricter stay-at-home rules in an effort to slow the spread of the virus.

Buscaino, whose council district includes San Pedro, watched the Mercy dock Friday morning. Before that, Buscaino said, he saw a motorcycle club at a local park, despite bans on large gatherings and public health officials urging folks to maintain at least 6 feet of separation between themselves and others.

“It should be our mindset that everyone is infected,” he said. “People should only be going out for two reasons: to go to the doctor or the grocery store.”

But Hahn, for her part, announced the county’s plans to close its beaches. L.A. city beaches, including Venice and Cabrillo’s Inner Beach, would also be closing, Garcetti later said.

“I believe it’s been difficult for people to stay at home,” she said at the dock, “especially for parents who have children who are now at home from school.”

But it is important, she added, to stress that the virus is dangerous, deadly and spreads quickly.

The Mercy, now that it’s arrived, will be guarded by U.S. Marines with the 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment and 1st Marine Division. They will work alongside local and state officials to provide security for the hospital ship.

“The Camp Pendleton Marines’ presence will ensure the overall safety of the operation to enable medical professionals aboard the ship to focus on providing care to non-COVID-19 patients,” said 1st Lt. Cameron Edinburgh. “This is the result of diligent interservice and interagency collaboration on short notice to provide rapid response to the local community.”