USS Hope ( AH - 7 ) USS " Hope " ( AH - 7 ) was a launched under Maritime Commission contract by Consolidated Steel Corporation , Wilmington , California , 30 August 1943 ; sponsored by Miss Martha L . Floyd ; acquired by the Navy the same day for conversion to a hospital ship by U . S . Naval Dry Dock , Terminal Island , Calif . ; and commissioned 15 August 1944 , Commander A . E . Richards in command . " Hope " was one of three hospital ships , the others being and , built , commanded and crewed by the Navy for the Army . These ships , unlike the Navy hospital ships , were intended for evacuation and transport of patients after primary care had been given . Medical equipment and personnel were provided by the Army . The Army medical complement table of organization provided for the temporary reinforcement of the staff if the ship directly supported amphibious operations . " Hope " completed her shakedown cruise and sailed 23 September 1944 to render medical care during the climactic phase of the campaign against Japan . Steaming via Pearl Harbor and Manus , the ship arrived Kossol Passage , in the Palaus , and received soldiers wounded taking the islands of the group . American soldiers , supported by a vast naval task force , returned to the Philippines 20 October . " Hope " arrived Leyte Gulf 7 November , to care for casualties and evacuated them to Hollandia . Thereafter the ship made four more voyages to Leyte to evacuate wounded . During the morning of 3 December she was followed by a Japanese submarine , and that afternoon was attacked unsuccessfully by a torpedo plane . Three days later , as she steamed toward Manus , the hospital was again attacked by aircraft . One bomb was dropped close aboard but no damage resulted . Continuing to evacuate wounded from the Philippines , " Hope " arrived Subic Bay 16 February 1945 , just as paratroopers landed on Corregidor . The ship sailed on to Lingayen Gulf for evacuation , and sailed from Leyte 6 March for Ulithi . " Hope " sailed 9 April to take part in the Okinawa operation , arriving off the bitterly - contested island 4 days later . During the next month she shuttled between Saipan and Okinawa , often under attack despite her distinctive markings . As Japanese suicide planes attempted vainly to stop the invasion , " Hope " assisted in rescuing sailors from damaged ships and embarked wounded soldiers . Departing 12 May 1945 , the ship moved back to the Philippines and arrived 3 July at Tarakan Island to assist , if needed , in the evacuation of Australian casualties in the invasion of Balikpapan . She then returned to the Philippines , greeting the surrender of Japan 15 August at Manila Bay . Much medical and evacuation work remained to be done , however , and " Hope " sailed 20 August for Okinawa and Japan , arriving Wakayama 22 September to assist in the occupation . She sailed 22 October with returnees , arriving San Francisco 15 November , and subsequently made two more voyages to Guam and the Philippines to bring back the sick and wounded . " Hope " returned to San Francisco 22 March 1946 and decommissioned 9 May 1946 . From 1946 to 1950 she was in custody of the War Department . The USS " Hope " ( AH - 7 ) is not to be confused with the USS " Consolation " ( AH - 15 ) , in service from 1945 - 1975 , and operated by Project HOPE between March 1960 and September 1974 under charter as the civilian hospital ship " Hope . " It completed 11 voyages between 1960 and 1973 , traveling to Indonesia , South Vietnam , Peru , Ecuador , Guinea , Nicaragua , Colombia , Sri Lanka , Tunisia , Jamaica , and Brazil .