USS Samaritan ( AH - 10 ) USS " Samaritan " ( AH - 10 ) was a hospital ship that served with the US Navy in World War II . Prior to that , she served as a US Navy transport ship under the name USS " Chaumont " ( AP - 5 ) . USS " Chaumont " , one of twelve 13 , 400 - ton ( displacement ) Hog Island Type B ( Design 1024 ) transports built for the U . S . Shipping Board at Hog Island , Pennsylvania by the American International Shipbuilding Corporation , was laid down in November 1918 as SS " Shope " , launched in March 1920 as the U . S . Army ' s " Chaumont " , and completed a few months later . Excess to Army needs , she was transferred to the Navy on 3 November 1921 and commissioned on the 22nd , Lieutenant Commander G . H . Emmerson in temporary command . On 1 December 1921 Commander C . L . Arnold assumed command . Peacetime service . Assigned to transport duty , " Chaumont " sailed the Atlantic , Pacific , and Caribbean throughout the twenties and thirties . From her home port at San Francisco , " Chaumont " commenced a career of trans - Pacific troop service that initially consisted of voyages between California and Manila via Honolulu . Two or three voyages in 1925 - 26 took her to Shanghai instead of Manila , and she continued to stop at Shanghai at least once during most subsequent years . One of her most important contributions , when in the Pacific , was aiding in the collection of meteorological information used by the Weather Map Service of the Asiatic Fleet . She also carried military supplies , Marine expeditionary forces , sailors and their dependents , and occasionally members of congressional committees on inspection tours , calling at ports from Shanghai to Bermuda . In August 1926 she sailed from San Francisco through the Panama Canal to Annapolis . The return trip took her to Norfolk , Virginia , where she was drydocked for routine maintenance , and then to Guantanamo Bay . Such voyages between the East and West Coasts also became near - annual events . Missions to Shanghai . " Chaumont " ' s voyages to Shanghai provided important assistance to U . S . Far Eastern diplomacy during the 1920s and 1930s by supporting the Marine Corps units deployed to the International Settlement in that city to protect U . S . nationals there . At the end of January 1932 Japanese forces in the Settlement attacked nearby Chinese forces , leading to intensive fighting in the city . Five years later , in mid - September 1937 , " Chaumont " rushed the 6th Marine Regiment to Shanghai to reinforce the 4th Regiment that was protecting the Settlement during the all - out Japanese effort to seize the city from tenacious Chinese defenders . " Chaumont " suffered two mishaps during her China service in 1936 - 37 , a week - long period aground at Chingwangtao and a collision at Shanghai with the Italian cruiser " Raimondo Montecuccoli " . World War II . When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941 , " Chaumont " was on one of her regular voyages from Hawaii to Manila , carrying sailors , civilian workmen , and cargo . She was diverted as part of the " Pensacola Convoy " to Darwin , Australia , where she discharged her passengers and cargo , and was then sent back to the West Coast . After two runs to Pearl Harbor , the now elderly transport was assigned to service between Seattle and Alaska , bringing men and supplies to assist in the defense of the Aleutians . Selected in March 1943 for conversion to a hospital ship , " Chaumont " was decommissioned in August for conversion at Seattle . Renamed " Samaritan " ( AH - 10 ) , she was recommissioned in March 1944 . Between 25 March and 11 May , she made two voyages from San Francisco to Hawaii , with passengers outward bound and patients homeward bound . Arriving in Honolulu a third time 11 May , she continued to Kwajalein , where from 17 June to 1 July , she treated casualties from the Saipan invasion . On 8 July she arrived off Saipan itself to embark patients for evacuation to Noumea , New Caledonia , from which she returned to Saipan 1 August for two weeks of duty as a receiving hospital . " Samaritan " evacuated patients from Guam to Guadalcanal , and from Peleliu to the Russell Islands in August and September 1944 . After a brief overhaul at Espiritu Santo , she served as base hospital at Ulithi until 16 February 1945 , when she sailed for Iwo Jima . She arrived off the bitterly engaged island 20 February , and sailed 2 days later with 606 patients on board for Saipan . On the second day out , eight men were buried at sea . The hospital ship returned to Iwo Jima 25 February 1945 to embark patients for transportation to Guam on the first of two such voyages . She arrived at Ulithi 2 April , and a week later got underway for embattled Okinawa . Arriving 13 April , she received casualties at the beach during the daytime and withdrew at night to the transport areas offshore , alternating her stays at Okinawa with evacuation voyages to Saipan until 1 July , when she sailed from Saipan for Pearl Harbor . Here she took patients from several island hospitals on board , sailed to San Francisco , and on 10 September back to Pearl Harbor thence Sasebo , where she provided hospital facilities to occupation forces until 15 March 1946 . Decommissioning . She returned to San Francisco 23 April , and was decommissioned there 25 June 1946 . On 29 August 1946 she was transferred to the Maritime Commission for disposal , and was delivered to a scrapping firm in January 1948 . Awards . " Samaritan " received four battle star s for World War II service . Media . USS Chaumount features in the WEB Griffin series of novels , " The Corps " .