USAHS Blanche F . Sigman USAHS " Blanche F . Sigman was a United States Army hospital ship during World War II . The ship was completed in April 1943 as Liberty ship SS " Stanford White . When selected for conversion to a hospital ship , she was originally assigned the name USAHS " Poppy , but never operated under that name . After being decommissioned as a hospital ship , she became U . S . Army transport USAT " Blanche F . Sigman . SS " Stanford White " , named in honor of American architect Stanford White , was built by California Shipbuilding Corporation of Los Angeles for the in early 1943 . Laid down in March 1943 and launched the following month , the ship was assigned to United States Lines , Inc . for merchant operation by the War Shipping Administration ( WSA ) . " Stanford White " made her way from California to New York and from that port made one transatlantic round trip to Liverpool . In November 1943 , the WSA allocated the ship to the U . S . Army , which converted her to a hospital ship . Though initially assigned the name " Poppy " , she was instead named in honor of First Lieutenant Blanche F . Sigman , a U . S . Army nurse killed in action in Italy . The hospital ship was initially based in Charleston , South Carolina , and made multiple voyages to ports in England , the Mediterranean , and France . After her homeport was changed to New York in December 1945 , she made several more runs to Europe as a hospital ship , then converted to USAT " Blanche F . Sigman " in April 1946 . As a transport , the ship made numerous trips bringing home nurses and military personnel prior to entering the National Defense Reserve Fleet in 1948 . The ship was declared surplus by the Army in 1949 , and sold for scrapping in 1974 . Liberty ship . " Stanford White " ( MC Hull No . 738 ) was laid down on 9 March 1943 on ship way 7 at California Shipbuilding Corp . ( Calship ) of Los Angeles as a standard Liberty ship . The ship was launched on Monday , 5 April 1943 ( the same day as another Calship - built Liberty , ) , and delivered 17 April 1943 , taking 39 days from start to delivery . The ship was initially to be launched on Saturday , 3 April , but had suffered minor damage from a fire the day before . Though it is not known where " Stanford White " spent the first five months of her merchant career , she spent the last two in the Atlantic . She sailed from Galveston , Texas on 12 September 1943 and arrived in Key West on 16 September . The ship departed the same day for New York and arrived there on 22 September . On 28 September the ship , carrying a general cargo , joined a convoy headed to Liverpool , where it arrived on 13 October . Five days later , the " Stanford White " set out for New York , arriving back there on 4 November . Hospital ship . In late November 1943 the ship was transferred by the WSA to the War Department for operation as a Hague Convention hospital ship by the U . S . Army . The ship put into the Todd Hoboken Shipyard at the Port of New York for conversion , remaining there until completion on 30 June 1944 . The ship was initially assigned the name " Poppy " , under the then - current policy of naming Army hospital ships after flowers , but never operated under that name . The ship was instead named after First Lieutenant Blanche F . Sigman , a U . S . Army nurse killed in action on 7 February 1944 on the beachhead during Operation Shingle , the Allied landings at Anzio . After sailing for the Clyde and back to New York in July on its first mercy mission , " Blanche F . Sigman " moved to its new homeport of Charleston in August 1944 . Sailing later that month , the " Sigman " headed to the Mersey and Liverpool . In October the ship sailed for Gibraltar , Oran , and Leghorn . In December , it repeated its previous voyage but also stopped at Naples as well , eventually making its way back to Charleston in January 1945 . Throughout 1945 , the hospital ship made six transatlantic treks , visiting Marseille three times , Naples , Oran , Gibraltar , Milford Haven , Wales , Avonmouth , Cherbourg , and Horta . The " Sigman " s sixth mission of the year was a return trip to Cherbourg that ended with a return to its new homeport of New York . From New York , " Blanche F . Sigman " made three sojourns , calling at Cherbourg for a third time , Bremerhaven three times , The Downs , and Le Havre . While in Europe during the third trip , the ship was decommissioned as a hospital ship in April 1946 and returned to New York with a load of Army and Red Cross nurses , and members of the Women ' s Army Corps . Throughout 1947 and into 1948 , the " Sigman " made numerous trips for the Army , primarily between Bremerhaven and New York . On 22 November 1948 , " Blanche F . Sigman " entered the at the James River in Virginia . Loaded with permanent ballast of of pig iron and of concrete blocks , the former hospital ship sat in mothballs for 25 years before being offered for disposal in late 1973 . The ship was awarded to Max Wender for scrapping on 23 January 1974 for $ 145 , 115 , and was withdrawn from the and delivered to Wender on 17 May 1974 .