USS Relief ( AH - 1 ) The sixth USS " Relief " ( AH - 1 ) , the first ship of the U . S . Navy designed and built from the keel up as a hospital ship , was laid down 14 June 1917 by the Philadelphia Navy Yard ; launched 23 December 1919 ; and commissioned 28 December 1920 at Philadelphia , Commander Richmond C . Holcomb , Medical Corps , USN , in command . With a bed capacity of 550 patients , " Relief " was one of the world ' s most modern and best equipped hospital ships . Assigned to the Atlantic Fleet , she departed Philadelphia 26 February 1921 to provide fleet units on Caribbean maneuvers with all the facilities of a modern shore hospital . Early service . " Relief " returned north to Philadelphia 28 April 1921 to serve the fleet in waters ranging from the Virginia Capes to the New England coast . During this service Captain Holcomb was relieved of command 5 September 1921 by Captain Thomas L . Johnson , a line officer . Following a proclamation made by Theodore Roosevelt in 1908 , it had been customary for hospital ships to be commanded by medical officers . But now , as a result of a review decision of the Judge Advocate General 6 June 1921 , the old tradition of line officer command of ships was re - established . As a result of this decision , Navy Regulations were changed , and the controversy ended . ( Change No . 2 to 1920 Navy Regulations . ) " Relief " continued to serve the Atlantic Fleet until the conclusion of the winter - spring maneuvers of 1923 , which took her to Cuba and Panama Bay . Departing the Panama Canal Zone 31 March 1923 for San Diego , California , she arrived 12 April . There she relieved as hospital ship for the Pacific Fleet and participated in fleet battle problems conducted northward to Alaska and westward to Hawaii . Her usual employment schedule was interrupted 1 July 1925 when she sailed from Pearl Harbor to join the Battle Fleet as it made its good will practice cruise via the Samoan Islands to Australia and New Zealand . She returned to San Pedro , California , 26 September 1925 and continued to serve the Pacific Fleet as the National Emergency preparations swelled the ranks of sailors and marines . This duty ended 3 June 1941 when " Relief " departed San Diego en route Norfolk , Virginia World War II . Arriving Norfolk 20 June 1941 , " Relief " thereafter served as a base hospital for the Atlantic Fleet in waters from Charleston , South Carolina , to Newfoundland . She was in port at NS Argentia , Newfoundland , when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor . The following day she got underway via Boston for Norfolk . Returning north , she arrived Casco Bay , Maine , 28 April and provided for the health needs of men training to man the navy ' s new fighting ships . She also cared for victims of the war in the Atlantic . " Relief " departed Casco Bay 8 February 1943 and put into the Boston Navy Yard to prepare for duty in the Pacific . By the 23d she was bound via the Panama Canal to the South Pacific Advanced Fleet Base at Nouméa , New Caledonia . The bitter struggle to drive the Japanese from the Solomon Islands was still in progress when she reached her destination 2 April . Marine , navy , and army patients brought out of the combat zones of the Solomons awaited in the New Hebrides for transport to better hospital facilities at Auckland , New Zealand . This evacuation duty kept " Relief " occupied until 15 November , when she departed Auckland to evacuate battle casualties of the amphibious assaults on the Gilbert Islands . 1944 . " Relief " arrived off Abemama in the Gilberts 24 November , but immediately retired to Funafuti Atoll , Ellice Islands , to serve as a base hospital there until 4 January 1944 . She then performed service off Tarawa in the Gilberts for the remainder of the month . She steamed for the Marshalls 31 January to care for battle casualties . On the east side of Carlson Island in Kwajalein Lagoon , she received battle casualties transported by small boat directly from the islands under attack . By the afternoon of 4 February she was bound for Hawaii with 607 patients . By 21 February , " Relief " returned to the newly - won Marshalls , bringing medical supplies to be used in establishing shore hospitals on Roi Island . After embarking battle casualties from navy transports , she shifted to Majuro Atoll lagoon 4 March . During the following 3 months , she was the only hospital ship at Majuro where she served some 200 , 000 officers and men of the 5th Fleet . With medical facilities ashore limited to dispensary service , " Relief " provided hospitalization for fleet casualties . During this period , units of the fleet made constant air and surface attacks on the Japanese at Jaluit , Mili , Maloelap , Wotje , and other outlying Marshall Island atolls . Enemy attacks on Eniwetok were repulsed . These operations , as well as attacks made by the fleet against Truk and Palau , produced a large number of battle casualties . " Relief " admitted 1 , 329 patients and discharged 693 from 4 March through 4 June 1944 . " Relief " also served as general medical consultation center for the fleet . From her came recommendations for appropriate action for coping with the problems of sanitation . She also served as medical supply depot for the combatant forces . When the fleet departed the Marshalls 4 June for amphibious operations in the Marianas , " Relief " evacuated her patients by air or surface transport to shore facilities and prepared to evacuate battle casualties of that campaign . Departing the Marshalls 21 June , " Relief " anchored off Saipan 3 days later to receive casualties directly from the combat then in progress . She departed that night with 656 patients and debarked them safely at Kwajalein on the 29th . Off Saipan again 15 July , she received 658 patients and again debarked them 5 days later at Kwajalein . The next morning she was steaming for the Marianas to receive 400 casualties from the battle for Tinian Island . Nearly all were very serious cases , so field facilities in the Marshalls were bypassed for the better treatment available in Hawaii . " Relief " entered Pearl Harbor 15 August . Taking on a maximum load of medical supplies and stores , including one complete field hospital unit , she put to sea 25 August for return to the Marshalls . " Relief " arrived at Eniwetok 3 September and transferred 175 tons of medical stores to medical stores barge for the use of Service Squadron 10 . Meanwhile , her pathologist and laboratory technicians worked to control an epidemic of bacillary dysentery that had broken out in the harbor . On the morning of 18 September , she steamed for the Palau Islands , arriving off Peleliu and Angaur to receive 759 casualties . Some were discharged prior to sailing , but 680 patients were evacuated to army and navy hospitals in New Caledonia . Arriving New Caledonia 11 October , " Relief " was ordered to evacuate patients directly to the United States . Taking on 489 patients , she departed Nouméa 15 October , touching at Pearl Harbor before arriving San Francisco 3 November . 1945 . Overhaul at General Engineering & Drydock Co . , Alameda commenced 6 November 1944 and extended through 10 February 1945 . Three days later " Relief " stood out from San Francisco Bay en route to Ulithi , the Carolines , arriving 5 March . On the night of 11 March , two Japanese suicide planes penetrated the harbor , one crashing the after flight deck of carrier and the other crashing on Sorlen Island . " Relief " received the casualties from " Randolph " as well as those from task forces returning from operations against the Japanese home islands . She departed Ulithi 26 March and entered Apra Harbor , Guam the following day , transferring 184 patients ashore in preparation for the Okinawa campaign . Japanese bombers attacked " Relief " on 2 April . One bomb fell several yards wide of the ship , but the only damage was temporary loss of suction in a lube oil pump . A barrage of antiaircraft fire from destroyer drove off the attackers . " Relief " anchored off the Okinawa invasion beach by day and stood out to sea each night , illuminated " like a Christmas tree . " As massive suicide aerial raids became common at night , the retirement plan was abandoned 9 April and the hospital ships remained in the anchorage area , taking advantage of the cover of smoke screens and turning off their illumination . On the afternoon of 10 April " Relief " steamed for Saipan with 556 battle casualties . She then made a quick run to the fleet base at Ulithi for stores and diesel oil , thence steamed back to Okinawa , arriving 22 April . After delivering a complete field hospital unit , she departed 26 April with 613 casualties , arriving Tinian Harbor the 30th . In four similar missions of mercy , she evacuated nearly 2 , 000 wounded fighting men from Okinawa to hospital facilities at Guam and Saipan . " Relief " departed Saipan 7 July and touched at Guam en route San Pedro Bay , Leyte , the Philippines . She served as a Fleet Base Hospital in the Philippines for the remainder of the war . She departed Subic Bay 28 August , steaming via Okinawa for Dairen , Manchuria . Her mission was the recovery of Allied prisoners of war from the former Japanese military prison camp at Mukden , Manchuria . As she passed through the East China and Yellow Seas , and swept out ahead to destroy any mines that might be sighted . Appearing before Dairen Kou 8 September 1945 , " Relief " gained no sight of either the tugs or the pilots which the Russians had promised . Entering the unfamiliar harbor , she moored unassisted to Pier No . 2 . Dairen was under Russian military control , and shore leave was not permitted , although the Russians magnanimously invited the officers ashore on guided tours . The only word of the prisoners was that they were en route by rail from Mukden , some 200 miles ( 300 km ) north of Dairen . The morning of 11 September , a navy doctor and a marine sergeant reported on board from the camp , and they brought word of the approximate number and condition of " Relief ' s " prospective passengers . Soon 753 of them arrived - Dutch , British , Australians , and Americans . Many had lived through the infamous death march at Bataan , and most had survived prison camps in the Philippines , Formosa , Honshū , and Manchuria . Outbound to freedom 12 September , they entered Buckner Bay , Okinawa , 3 days later . Before they could be transferred to shore , " Relief " was ordered to stand out to sea to evade a typhoon . Returning to Buckner Bay 18 September , she debarked her passengers by noon . On 26 September , " Relief " steamed for Taku , China , arriving on the 30th to provide medical facilities for the troops of the 1st Marine Division assigned to occupation duty in North China . This service continued until 24 October , when " Relief " was ordered to carry patients to the west coast of the United States . " Relief " embarked patients at Tsingtao , Okinawa , and Guam , and then steamed for home , arriving San Francisco , 30 November . By this time the war service of the hospital ship had included steaming the equivalent of nearly four times around the world and the evacuation of nearly 10 , 000 fighting men as patients from scenes of combat in nearly every military campaign area of the Pacific Theater . Her last transpacific voyage commenced 15 December 1945 when she stood out of San Francisco Bay for Yokosuka , Japan , arriving 4 January 1946 , She embarked navy passengers there before proceeding to Saipan and Guam . When she stood out from Apra Harbor 15 January , she carried 282 patients and 717 returning veterans . She arrived San Francisco 2 February , debarked her passengers , and got underway for the east coast on the 19th , arriving Norfolk , on the 28th . She decommissioned at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard 11 June 1946 . Struck from the Navy List 19 July 1946 , she was delivered to the War Shipping Administration for disposal 13 January 1947 . " Relief " was sold for scrap 23 March 1948 to the Boston Metals Co . " Relief " ( AH - 1 ) received five battle star s for World War II service .