USS Solace ( AH - 2 ) The first USS " Solace " ( AH - 2 ) was a hospital ship in the United States Navy . " Solace " was built in 1896 and 1897 by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co . , Newport News , Virginia , and was operated as the SS " Creole " by the Cromwell Steamship Lines . The ship was acquired by the United States Navy on 7 April 1898 , renamed " Solace " , and converted into a hospital ship . She was the first Navy ship to fly the Geneva Red Cross flag . " Solace " was commissioned on 14 April 1898 , Comdr . Andrew Dunlap in command . Service history . 1898 – 1905 . The hospital ship was in constant service during the Spanish - American War , returning wounded and ill servicemen from Cuba to Norfolk , New York , and Boston . In February 1899 , she sailed for Europe , and she visited ports there , in the Near East , the Far East , and Hawaii , before arriving at Mare Island , California , on 27 May , for an overhaul . She returned to sea on 1 July 1899 and , until October 1905 , carried mail , passengers , and provisions from San Francisco to Hawaii , Guam , the Philippine Islands , China , and Japan . " Solace " was placed out of commission at the Mare Island Navy Yard on 12 October 1905 . 1908 – 1909 . Recommissioned on 3 June 1908 , " Solace " voyaged to the Fiji Islands ; Samoa ; and Magdalena Bay , Mexico , before transiting the Panama Canal , calling at Caribbean ports , and steaming to Charleston , South Carolina , " Solace " was decommissioned there on 14 April 1909 . 1909 – 1921 . Recommissioned again on 20 November 1909 , " Solace " joined the Atlantic Fleet on 6 December 1909 and served as a hospital ship at ports along the eastern seaboard of the United States from Newport , Rhode Island , to Key West , Florida . She was under the command of Luther Lochman von Wedekind . She also operated at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba ; in the Panama Canal Zone ; and at other ports in the Caribbean . This routine was broken in October and November 1913 by a five - week voyage to France . She was stationed in New York Harbor at the 82nd Street Landing in late December 1918 . On 1 January 1919 , " Solace " was ordered to proceed to the vicinity of , then aground off Fire Island , New York , loaded with wounded veterans returning from France . " Solace " anchored off Fire Island that night . The next day , heavy seas prevented the transfer of survivors from " Northern Pacific " to the hospital ship . The seas subsided on the 3rd , and small boats began the transfer . Patients were taken on board all of that day and by the time " Solace " was ready to return to New York on the 4th , she had a total of 504 patients on board even though her berthing facilities could accommodate only about 200 . These were used for the seriously wounded while the remainder were put in cots . " Solace " returned to Hoboken , New Jersey , that night ; and , by 0530 on 5 January , had debarked all of the patients . Decommissioning and sale . After her detachment from the Atlantic Fleet on 1 April 1921 , " Solace " was berthed at the Philadelphia Navy Yard . She was decommissioned on 20 July 1921 ; struck from the Navy List on 6 August 1930 ; and sold to Boston Metals Co . , Baltimore , Maryland , on 6 November for scrap .