USS Sanctuary ( AH - 17 ) USS " Sanctuary " ( AH - 17 ) was a that served in the U . S . Navy in World War II and the Vietnam War . " Sanctuary " was laid down as SS " Marine Owl " by the Sun Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co . , Chester , Pa . ; launched as " Sanctuary " ( AH - 17 ) on 15 August 1944 ; sponsored by Mrs . Alda Andrus ; and delivered on 30 September 1944 . Subsequently converted to a hospital ship by the Todd Shipbuilding Co . , at Hoboken , N . J . , whose citizens matched the cost of conversion with the purchase of war bonds , she was commissioned on 20 June 1945 , Commander John M . Paulsson , USNR , in command of the ship ; Captain Oscar Davis , MC , USN , in charge of the medical department . Operation history . World War II . Following the shakedown , " Sanctuary " departed Norfolk on 31 July for the Pacific . She arrived at Pearl Harbor four days after the Japanese acceptance of surrender terms and , on 22 August , continued on to the Far East to assist in the repatriation of former POWs . Proceeding via Okinawa , " Sanctuary " arrived off Wakayama in Task Group 56 . 5 on 11 September ; then waited as minecraft cleared the channels . On the afternoon of the 13th , she commenced taking on sick , injured , and ambulatory cases . By 03 : 00 on the 14th , she had exceeded her rated bed capacity of 786 . A call was put out to the fleet requesting cots . The request was answered ; and , seven hours later , she sailed for Okinawa with 1 , 139 liberated POWs , primarily British , Australian , and Javanese , embarked for the first leg of their journey home . Despite a typhoon encountered en route , " Sanctuary " delivered her charges safely to Army personnel at Naha ; and , by the 21st , was underway for Nagasaki . Arriving on the 22d , she embarked more ex - POWs ; then loaded military personnel rotating back to the United States and steamed for Naha . On the 25th , she discharged her liberated prisoners ; then shifted to Buckner Bay . A typhoon warning next sent her to sea ; but she returned three days later ; took on 439 civilian repatriates , including some 40 children under the age of ten , and military repatriates and passengers ; and set a course for Guam . There , she exchanged passengers for patients ; then continued on to San Francisco , arriving on 22 October . Between 18 November and 17 December , " Sanctuary " completed a run to Saipan and Guam , and back to San Francisco . During late December 1945 and January 1946 , she made two round trips between California and Hawaii . On 7 February , she departed San Francisco for Philadelphia and deactivation . She arrived at League Island on 1 March and was decommissioned on 15 August . For the next 15 years , she was berthed with the Atlantic Reserve Fleet . Vietnam War . On 1 September 1961 , however , her name was stricken from the Navy list , and she was transferred to the Maritime Administration for berthing with the National Defense Reserve Fleet . Less than five years later , on 1 March 1966 , " Sanctuary " was reacquired by the Navy and reinstated on the Navy list . Towed to Louisiana , she was modernized at the Avondale Shipyards , Westwego ; and was re - commissioned at New Orleans on 15 November 1966 , Captain John F . Collingwood , USN , commanding and Captain Gerald J . Duffner , MC , USN , commanding Naval Hospital in USS " Sanctuary " . Modernization had given her a heliport , three x - ray units , a blood bank , an artificial kidney machine , ultrasonic diagnostic equipment , a recompression chamber and other modern equipment , medical , culinary , laundry , etc . , to supplement her 20 wards and four operating rooms . Three hundred and sixteen medical personnel were assigned to staff the Naval Hospital . Her mission had shifted in emphasis : from that of an " ambulance " ship carrying wounded and sick to hospitals in rear areas , to that of a fully equipped hospital carrying medical facilities close to the combat area . On 8 March 1967 , " Sanctuary " departed San Francisco for the Far East . On 2 April , she joined the 7th Fleet at Subic Bay . On the 10th , she arrived at Da Nang , South Vietnam ; and that afternoon took on her first casualties – ten marines badly burned when their amphibious tank detonated a land mine , which , in turn , had exploded the gasoline tank . By midnight , 136 patients had been received . By the end of April , she had admitted 717 patients – 319 combat casualties , 72 non - combat injuries , 326 suffering from various diseases – and treated 682 outpatients . Only two of her patients died . Assigned to duty off South Vietnam on a non - rotating basis , " Sanctuary " began her extended overseas tour spending a minimum of 50 days operating on the line each quarter , followed by an availability and upkeep period at Subic Bay . By April 1968 , after a year on that schedule , she had admitted 5 , 354 patients and treated another 9 , 187 on an outpatient basis . Helicopter s , bringing patients from the battlefield , transferring them from and to other medical facilities , or carrying passengers to and from the ship , had made more than 2 , 500 landings on her deck . The following month , " Sanctuary ' s " schedule was changed to 90 - day on - the - line periods . Her operating area and her itinerary on the line , however , remained the same . She continued to operate off the I Corps Tactical area , the northern provinces of South Vietnam ; and , for the most part , rotated between stations , such as Da Nang , Phu Bai , Chu Lai , and Dong Ha , every two to four days as needed by the marines fighting ashore . Occasionally granted brief rest and recreation out of the area ( five days in Subic Bay plus travel time there and back ) , " Sanctuary " — the only Navy hospital off Vietnam after 16 March 1970 – maintained her busy schedule to that date and increased it thereafter through 1970 and into 1971 during which time she was scheduled for 120 - day on - the - line schedules . On 23 April 1971 , she departed Da Nang for the last time . During May , she visited Hong Kong and called at Sasebo ; then sailed for Pearl Harbor and San Francisco , where she arrived on 10 June . 1970s . In commission , in reserve , as of 31 August 1971 , " Sanctuary " was decommissioned on 15 December . The next 11 months were spent at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard where she was converted for use as a dependents ' hospital and as a commissary / Navy exchange retail store . Another change brought the assignment of two women officers and 60 enlisted women to the ship for other than medical duties , and , on recommissioning on 18 November 1972 , she became the first United States Navy ship with a mixed male – female ship ' s company . " Sanctuary " remained in Hunter ' s Point Naval Shipyard until late January 1973 , when she put to sea for two weeks of refresher training . She returned to Hunter ' s Point on 22 February and remained berthed until 16 August , when she got underway for two days cruising . Returning to San Francisco on the 17th , " Sanctuary " began a period of restricted availability during which her propulsion system was converted to Navy Distillate Fuel . After several weeks preparation , she got underway , in mid - September 1973 , for a three - month goodwill cruise to South America . She went through the Panama Canal where there was a brief liberty call . On this mission , sponsored by the State Department , " Sanctuary " assisted the peoples of Colombia and Haiti in three distinct areas : medical aid , material aid ( by delivering over $ 500 , 000 worth of non - monetary donations ) , and civic action projects ( civil engineering projects ) . She visited Buena Ventura , Colombia , from 12 October to 6 November and stopped at Port - au - Prince , Haiti , from 13 November until early December . She arrived at Mayport , Fla . , her new home port , on 14 December 1973 and remained there for the duration of the year . The USS " Sanctuary " was a success at having the mixed ship ' s company . They showed that both male and female sailors could do the job . " Sanctuary " earned eleven battle star s for service in the Vietnam War . Civilian service . In 1989 , the Navy sold ex - " Sanctuary " for $ 10 . 00 to a group called Life International . Four years later , Life International transferred the vessel to Project Life , Inc . , which planned to convert the ship into a training center for recovering drug addicts . Unable to reach an agreement with the Maryland Port Authority ( MPA ) for use of a pier , in 1998 , Project Life sued the MPA , accusing it of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act . The MPA lost the suit and in 2001 , Project Life was awarded a five - year lease at Baltimore ' s North Locust Point Marine Terminal . In February 2007 , eight months after Project Life ' s lease ended , the dilapidated ship broke its moorings and was adrift in Baltimore Harbor . The MPA sued Project Life for over $ 100 , 000 in back rents and fees incurred to secure the vessel . PCB concerns and fate . Ex - " Sanctuary " was sold at public auction in Baltimore for $ 50 , 000 to Potomac Navigation , Inc . on 21 August 2007 . Potomac intended to tow the ship to Greece for evaluation as a hotel or storage facility , however in November 2007 ex - " Sanctuary " ' s departure was blocked by the Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) pending testing for PCBs . International Shipbreaking of Texas had considered bidding on the ship during the August auction for scrapping , but declined after its testing indicated high levels of PCBs . The original bill of sale indicated the ship also contained asbestos in the early 1990s . Potomac Navigation ' s testing showed much lower PCB levels . " The Baltimore Sun " reported that the ship could be taken overseas and sold for scrap regardless of PCB content and yielding a profit of $ 3 million while endangering the environment . As of April 2010 , she is moored at Locust Point , Baltimore . Former Navy hospital ship – the USS " Sanctuary " – was tugged out of Baltimore on 17 August 2011 . The eventual owner , Potomac Navigation , took her to Texas , where she was scrapped .