USS Mercy ( AH - 4 ) USS " Mercy " ( ID - 1305 / AH - 4 ) was a hospital ship in the United States Navy during World War I . She was the first U . S . Navy ship of that name . The ship was previously known as SS " Saratoga , a steamer for the Ward Line on the New York to Havana route , and considered the fastest steamship in coastal trade . Before being purchased by the Navy , the ship was briefly employed as United States Army transport ship USAT " Saratoga , a career that ended after a collision off Staten Island , New York . In her Navy career , " Mercy " made four transatlantic round trips to France , bringing home almost 2 , 000 wounded men . After the end of World War I , the ship was based in Philadelphia , and briefly laid up there in 1924 . The ship was decommissioned in 1934 and lent to the Federal Emergency Relief Administration , struck in 1938 , and scrapped in 1939 . SS " Saratoga " . " Saratoga " was launched in March 1907 by William Cramp and Sons , Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , for the Ward Line of New York . The ship was placed in service later that year on the New York to Havana route where she stayed for the next ten years . She was considered by some as the fastest steamship in the coastal trade . Shortly after entering service , the new liner was rammed by a three - masted schooner in stormy seas . " Saratoga " was steaming from Havana at when the schooner hit the port quarter and raked the side , at 01 : 00 on 29 October 1907 . Her captain could not identify the other ship , but waited , in vain , for three hours to offer assistance . Damage to " Saratoga " was minor , though the schooner lost some rigging from the front of the ship . In March 1911 , the captain of " Saratoga " , Cleveland Downs , faced legal difficulties regarding the way live turtles were stored aboard while being imported to market . Downs was arrested in New York on charges of cruelty to animals because the turtles had been stored upside down , with flippers lashed to one another ; Miller contended that this was standard practice and asked that the charges be dropped . A later " Saratoga " captain also faced legal troubles , when , in June 1912 , Frank L . Miller was arrested by Sheriff Julius Harburger in New York and forced to post a $ 500 appearance bond in a civil suit involving a former crewman . Miller ’ s arrest delayed the departure of the ship by two hours . On 16 March 1912 , " Saratoga " stood by " within a few hundred yards " of the hulk of when that re - floated warship was sunk in the Gulf of Mexico , allowing passengers and crew to witness the historic ship ’ s final disposal . On 26 October 1914 from about 19 : 30 to 21 : 00 , " Saratoga " was steaming north off the Virginia Capes ( and south of the Scotland Lightship ) when passengers and crew saw flashes and heard reports from guns of " heavy calibre " that they thought were from a naval gun battle . Speculation at the time centered on a confrontation between German cruiser " Karlsruhe " — which had been sinking British vessels in the Atlantic and Caribbean areas — and one of the Royal Navy cruisers or . A follow - up news story reported that " Saratoga " had chanced upon U . S . Navy gunnery practice . On 23 May 1917 " Saratoga " and , her Ward Line sister - ship , were requisitioned by the U . S . government . On 2 June , after returning from her last commercial round trip to Cuba , " Saratoga " was turned over to the United States Army for service as a transport ship . During her career as a passenger liner , " Saratoga " carried some notable passengers between New York and Caribbean ports . Mario García Menocal sailed from Havana to New York for " personal business " after having lost the Cuban presidential election in 1908 . In 1913 , Cipriano Castro , the former President of Venezuela ( 1899 – 1909 ) , sailed to Havana for his health in 1913 . A report in " The New York Times " speculated that Castro was going to meet with associates and " professional revolutionaries " in Havana in an attempt to regain power in Venezuela ( which never occurred ) . In February 1914 , Cardinal Farley , the Archbishop of New York from 1902 to 1918 , sailed on " Saratoga " for a trip to The Bahamas . USAT " Saratoga " . After her requisition from the Ward Line , the steamer was turned over to the Army on 2 June 1917 , becoming Army transport USAT " Saratoga " . She was hurriedly outfitted for troop transport duties and became part of the first group of the first American troop convoy to France during World War I . The convoy set out from Ambrose Light for Brest , France , at daybreak on 14 June 1917 . " Saratoga " was accompanied by fellow Army transport ships " Havana " , , and , the cruiser , transport / auxiliary cruiser , destroyers , , , and converted yacht . At 22 : 15 on 22 June , some from the convoy ' s intended destination of Brest , " Saratoga " ’ s group of the convoy was attacked by submarines . Two torpedoes passed near " Havana " and two torpedoes straddled " DeKalb " . No submarine was definitively sighted and the convoy , scattered by the alarm , reformed the next morning . The group , alerted by reports of submarine activity near Brest diverted to Saint - Nazaire and arrived on 25 June . After sailing back to the United States , " Saratoga " loaded 1 , 200 passengers at Hoboken , New Jersey , on 30 July , a hot summer day . In preparation for sailing for France the next day , the transport sailed to an anchorage at Tompkinsville , Staten Island . Among the passengers on board were nurses of the Army ' s Base Hospital No . 8 . To escape the sweltering heat aboard the ship , many of the nurses on board returned to their cabins after lunch and removed their heavy wool uniforms . While at anchor at about 13 : 30 , " Saratoga " was rammed in the port quarter by of the Panama Steamship Company after her engine room misunderstood a command from the bridge . The force of the impact buckled plating from " Saratoga " < nowiki > ' < / nowiki > s rail down to the waterline , leaving a hole . " Saratoga " began to list almost immediately , and the abandon ship signal was given soon after . The passengers , including nurses in various states of undress , reported to their assigned lifeboats and evacuated the ship in an orderly fashion . The close proximity to shore , and the large number of smaller craft in the vicinity , allowed all on board to be rescued without loss of life or injury . " Panama " had only superficial damage ; " Saratoga " raised anchor and was towed near the Morse Dry Dock & Repair Company where she was allowed to settle in the mud . The erstwhile " Saratoga " passengers were collected from the various rescue craft and were loaded onto , where they sailed for France on 6 August . USS " Mercy " . On 27 September 1917 , the U . S . Navy purchased " Saratoga " from the War Department . On 30 October 1917 , she began conversion to a hospital ship at the New York Navy Yard , Brooklyn , New York , and was commissioned USS " Mercy " on 24 January 1918 . " Mercy " and ( former Ward Line mate , " Havana " ) were the first Navy hospital ships to have female nurses aboard . Both ships were outfitted with state - of - the - art operating rooms and X - ray labs and could accommodate 500 patients each . Assigned to the Atlantic Fleet , " Mercy " operated in the Chesapeake Bay area with Yorktown , Virginia , as her home port , attending the war wounded and transporting them from ships to shore hospitals . In October 1918 she sailed for New York to join the Cruiser and Transport Service . On 3 November the hospital ship departed New York on the first of four round trips to France , returning 1 , 977 casualties by 25 March 1919 . For most of the next 15 years following World War I , " Mercy " served off the east coast based at Philadelphia . In July 1920 , she was redesignated " AH - 4 " . From 1 December 1924 , until 1 September 1925 , she was in reserve at the Philadelphia Navy Yard . On 25 November She went into reduced commission , returning to full commission 1 September 1926 . In early 1927 , " Mercy " was painted white with no hospital markings , but by the time of a 1931 visit to Vancouver , the markings had been restored . " Mercy " remained in commission until loaned to the Philadelphia branch of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration on 23 March 1934 . Anchored at Girard Point , the ship served as a home for up to 300 homeless men . On 20 April 1938 , she was struck from the Naval Vessel Register and on 16 March 1939 sold for scrapping to Boston Iron & Metals Company of Baltimore .