.jpg) USSComfort at anchor, c. 1919 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Ward Line | |
| Name | SSHavana |
| Namesake | Havana,Cuba |
| Owner | Ward Line |
| Builder | William Cramp & Sons,Philadelphia |
| Yard number | 340 |
| Launched | October 1906 |
| In service | 1907 |
| Out of service | 23 May 1917[1] |
 United States | |
| Name | USSComfort |
| Acquired | 17 December 1917 |
| Commissioned | 18 March 1918 |
| Decommissioned | 5 August 1921 |
| Fate | Laid up; Sold toAGWI Line 1925 |
| Ward Line | |
| Name | SSHavana |
| Owner | Ward Line |
| Acquired | 1927 |
| In service | 1928 |
| Renamed | SSYucatan, 1935 |
| Renamed | SSAgwileon, 1940 |
| Out of service | 1941 |
| United States | |
| Name | USATAgwileon |
| Acquired | April 1942 |
| In service | April 1942 |
| Refit | Atlantic Basin Iron Works, November 1942–April 1943 |
| Refit | Atlantic Basin Iron Works, June–August 1943 |
| Reclassified | hospital ship USAHSShamrock, August 1943 |
| Refit | Charleston Navy Yard, April–September 1945 |
| Out of service | 4 February 1946,NDRF,Suisun Bay |
| Fate | Sold for scrapping, February 1948 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement | 10,102 long tons (10,264 t) |
| Length | 429 ft 10 in (131.01 m) |
| Beam | 50 ft 2 in (15.29 m) |
| Draft | 26 ft (7.9 m) |
| Speed | 18 kn (21 mph; 33 km/h) |
| Complement | 318 |
| Differences as USATAgwileon: | |
| Tonnage | 6,678 |
| Draft | 23 ft 11 in (7.29 m) |
| Propulsion | 2 × reciprocating steam engines |
| Speed | 14 kn (16 mph; 26 km/h) |
| Range | 4,900 nmi (5,600 mi; 9,100 km) |
| Capacity | Cargo: 146,360 cu ft (4,144 m3) |
| Troops | 1,350 |
| Differences as USAHSShamrock: | |
| Range | 5,800 nmi (6,700 mi; 10,700 km) |
| Capacity |
|
| Armament | None |
USSComfort (AH-3) was ahospital ship for theUnited States Navy in World War I. She was the sister ship ofUSS Mercy (AH-4) but the two ships were not of a ship class.Comfort was known asSSHavana in passenger service for theWard Line, and asUSATHavana inUnited States Army service before her Navy service. Her name was restored toHavana in 1927, and she was renamedSSYucatán in 1935, andSSAgwileon in 1941. In World War II, she was known asUSATAgwileon andUSAHSShamrock in service for the United States Army.
Launched in 1906, SSHavana was a passenger steamer for the Ward Line on the New York–Havana route from 1907 to 1917. Before being purchased by the Navy, the ship briefly served as United States Army transport shipUSATHavana and was in the first U.S.convoy of ships to sail for France during World War I. In her Navy career,Comfort made three transatlantic voyages, bringing home over 1,100 men from European ports.Comfort was placed in reserve in September 1919, decommissioned in 1921, and sold in April 1925.
The former hospital ship was repurchased by the Ward Line in 1927, who refitted her and placed her back in service on the Havana route under her original name ofHavana. In January 1935,Havana grounded on a reef north ofThe Bahamas and remained there for three months. After being refloated and repaired, she was placed back in service asSSYucatán in June. In 1940 the ship was removed from passenger service to be converted into a freighter. After capsizing in port in 1941, the ship was again refloated and renamedSSAgwileon.
Under abareboat charter by theUnited States Maritime Commission,Agwileon carried civilian technicians and advisors toSierra Leone for the U.S. Army. In November 1942, the ship was taken over by the Army asUSATAgwileon and converted to a troopship, making one trip in that capacity. In June 1943, the ship was selected for conversion to an Army hospital ship, and was renamedUSAHSShamrock. Operating locally in the Mediterranean for most of her career, the ship had transported almost 18,000 patients by September 1944. The ship was converted for use in thePacific Theatre, but not before the war ended. The ship was placed in reserve in February 1946, and was scrapped in February 1948.
Havana was launched in 1906 byWilliam Cramp & Sons ofPhiladelphia for the New York & Cuba Mail Steam Ship Co. — commonly referred to as theWard Line — as a passenger steamer on the New York to Havana route.
In 1909, on the way to the Quarantine Station in New York,Havana rammed the anchoredMunson Line freighterCubana which was hidden from sight behindSS Kronprinz Wilhelm, also at anchor.Cubana had no damage below the waterline andHavana, laden with inbound New York passengers, suffered only superficial damage.[2]
Strikingfiremen delayedHavana's departure in July 1911. The firemen were looking for an additional $0.15 per day for meals while the ship was in port. A. G. Smith, General Manager of the Ward Line, agreed to that concession, allowing theHavana to get underway after a two-hour delay.[3]
_underway_prior_to_World_War_I_(NH_100871).jpg)
Several times in 1912, amidst an outbreak ofbubonic plague in the Caribbean,Havana operated in violation of Cuban and U.S. quarantine rules. In July 1912, the liner prepared to depart Cuba without an inspection and fumigation, but faced the prospect of seven days quarantine in Havana before the ship would be allowed to depart.[4] However, a compromise was worked out by the United States Marine Hospital Service which allowedHavana to depart after a one-day delay.[5] In September of the same year, another inspection gaffe resulted in government prosecution of the Ward Line.[6]
On 23 May 1917Havana and sister shipSaratoga, another Ward Line steamer, were requisitioned by theWar Department for U.S. Army use during World War I.[1]
After her requisition by the U.S. government,Havana was turned over to the United States Army on 24 May 1917 for service as a transport ship.[7] She was hastily outfitted for trooping duties, and at daybreak on 14 June, USATHavana, with fellow Army transport shipsSaratoga,Tenadores, andPastores, accompanied bycruisersSeattle,DeKalb, destroyersWilkes,Terry,Roe, and converted yachtCorsair, set out fromAmbrose Light forBrest, France. They were in the lead group of the first American troop convoy to France during World War I.[7][8]Corsair was unable to maintain the 15 kn (17 mph; 28 km/h) pace and fell back, being replaced by destroyerFanning from the second group.[9]
At 22:15 on 22 June, some 850 nmi (980 mi; 1,570 km) from its intended destination of Brest,Havana's group of the convoy was attacked by submarines. Two torpedoes passed nearHavana and two torpedoes straddledDeKalb. No submarine was definitively sighted and the convoy, scattered by the alarm, reformed the next morning.[10] The group, alerted by reports of submarine activity near Brest, diverted toSaint-Nazaire and arrived on 25 June.[11]
Havana made only the one transatlantic crossing as an Army transport and was transferred to the U.S. Navy on 17 July.[12] The ship was outfitted at theNew York Navy Yard by theJohn N. Robins Co. ofBrooklyn, New York; renamedComfort on 14 March 1918; and commissioned 18 March 1918 with Medical Inspector C. M. Oman,USN, commanding.Comfort andMercy (former Ward Line mate,Saratoga) were the first Navy hospital ships to have female nurses aboard, with a capacity of seven, including a chief nurse.[13][14] Both ships were outfitted with state-of-the-art operating rooms,X-ray labs, rest rooms, and could accommodate 500 patients each.[13]
After serving from 24 July – 5 October 1918 as a floating hospital at New York,Comfort joined theCruiser and Transport Force of theAtlantic Fleet to return wounded men from Europe. In three voyages between 21 October 1918 and 13 March 1919, she brought home 1,183 men from France, Britain, and theAzores. She sailed fromCharleston on 9 June for repairs atMare Island Navy Yard where she wentin ordinary 11 September 1919.[15]
At Mare Island,Comfort had her boilers replaced and the electrical system was revamped, which entailed replacing all temporary wiring with permanent wiring and watertight fixtures. The crew quarters of the ship had also become infested with bedbugs from older German-style hospital bedding and remedies and eradication were performed.[16] ButComfort had seen the end of her Navy service; she was decommissioned 5 August 1921, and was sold at Mare Island 1 April 1925.[15]
Author and poet William Nelson Morell, in his book of poems related to Navy service during the war, was inspired to write these lines aboutComfort:
They never billeted a better crew
That sailed out of any port
Than that which carried the wounded throughThe war zone,—on the new "Comfort"
— "The U.S.S. Comfort (Hospital Ship)"[17]
The former liner was reacquired by the Ward Line in 1927 and underwent a major refit – removal of one of its stacks and modernization of its interiors – atTodd Shipyard inSeattle, returning to passenger service in the following year.[18][19]Havana was placed on the New York–Cuba service, where business thrived, in part because ofProhibition in the United States. Ward Line cruises to Havana were one of the quickest and least expensive ways to what one author called "alcohol-enriched vacations". The success of the Cuba routes attracted the attention ofCunard Line who added service from New York to Cuba with select cruises ofMauretania in 1928, a full season of cruises onCaronia in 1929, and the addition ofCarmania the following season.[20] This perceived threat to American shipping interests was met by the Ward Line by the acquisition of two new ships. The new ships,Oriente andMorro Castle, became the top of the line, andHavana was demoted to a third tier ship in terms of luxury and spaciousness, behindSiboney andOrizaba.[19]
On 6 January 1935,Havana ran aground onMantanilla Reef (27°22′N78°41′W / 27.367°N 78.683°W /27.367; -78.683[21]) north ofThe Bahamas. Although one passenger died of "apoplexy" during the evacuation of the ship, all the passengers were evacuated on the steamersEl Oceano andPeten. These two steamers along withUnited States Coast Guard CuttersVigilant andPandora had come to the stricken ship's rescue.[19][22] The ship had run aground in a well-known shoal area and near a visible marker buoy.[19] The captain, Alfred W. Peterson, was found guilty of an "error in judgement in navigation" by usingdead reckoning instead of more precise methods of setting course.[23] The grounding ofHavana was second of threepublic relations disasters that befell the Ward Line in a four-month span; the fire and sinking ofMorro Castle in September 1934, and the sinking ofMohawk (chartered to replace the groundedHavana) on her maiden Ward Line voyage in January 1935, were the other two.[19] After these three incidents, the "Ward Line" name was dropped in favor of the less familiar "Cuba Mail Line" moniker by July 1935.[24]
Havana remained on the reef for three months before being refloated, repaired, and renamed SSYucatán.[19]Yucatán remained in passenger service for the Cuba Mail Line until 1940, when she was converted to a freighter.[19] On 29 November 1940,Yucatán sank at her pier in New York.[25] After again being refloated and repaired, the ship was renamedAgwileon and assigned to the Cuba Mail Lines parent organization, theAtlantic, Gulf, & West Indies Steamship Lines (the "AGWI Lines"), and remained in service as a freighter.[19]
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In April 1942, theMaritime Commission took control of SSAgwileon under abareboat charter and used her to transport civilian technicians and advisors toFreetown,Sierra Leone, for the U.S. Army. After having boiler difficulties there, the ship then proceeded back to New York viaCape Town,Brazil,Trinidad, and Cuba. The voyage was completed in October.[26]
The following month, the ship becameUSATAgwileon when it was chartered by the Army, and underwent conversion to a troopship at theAtlantic Basin Iron Works inBrooklyn. With the conversion complete, the troopship left in April 1943 forOran andGibraltar, returning to New York in June. After this one voyage she was selected for conversion to a hospital ship.[26]
Putting in at the Atlantic Basin Iron Works again in June, the ship was renamedUSAHSShamrock in August 1943. With the conversion complete, the new hospital ship left New York in September for Gibraltar and theMediterranean where she operated locally, calling often at Oran,Palermo, the southern beaches of France,Bizerte, andNaples. By mid-February 1944,Shamrock had transported 11,989 patients before departing Gibraltar forCharleston (viaBermuda), where she arrived in early March. After undergoing some repairs and alterations at Charleston,Shamrock sailed again for Gibraltar for another tour of duty in the Mediterranean area from May to September. After transporting over 6,000 patients during this mission, she returned viaHorta,Azores, to Charleston in late September.[27]
In October, the hospital ship put in atJacksonville for major repairs, before embarking on a final Mediterranean tour, arriving back in Charleston in April 1945. With thewar in Europe winding down by this time,Shamrock underwent ventilation improvements at theCharleston Navy Yard intended for service in thePacific. The repairs complete in September 1945, the hospital ship sailed forLos Angeles, arriving in October.[27]
With no further need for hospital ships by that time,Shamrock was taken out of service. After the possibility of refitting the ship to carry homewar brides was rejected,Shamrock was turned over to theWar Shipping Administration atSan Francisco on 4 February 1946, and placed in theNational Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) atSuisun Bay, California.[26][27] On 30 December 1947,Shamrock was sold to the Walter W. Johnson Co., and on 4 February 1948 was withdrawn from the NDRF for scrapping.[28]
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1935 | |
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