USS Antaeus ( AG - 67 ) USS " Antaeus " ( AS - 21 / AG - 67 ) – later renamed USS " Rescue " ( AH - 18 ) – was a commercial passenger liner acquired by the U . S . Navy during World War II and named USS " Antaeus " . She was initially intended to be employed as a submarine tender ; however she was modified and used as a transport for troops from 1942 to 1944 . In 1945 she was commissioned as a hospital ship , renamed USS " Rescue " , and played an important part in 1945 supporting Pacific Ocean attack and then liberation operations . Civilian service . SS " St . John " was built in 1932 by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company , Newport News , Virginia and was operated as a passenger liner by the Eastern Steamship Lines . " St . John " , along with her sister ship the SS " Acadia " , entered coastal service for New York - Yarmouth - Halifax or Saint John . From 1938 - 1940 the vessel also ran in New York - Bermuda or Nassau service . In 1939 , the vessel was chartered to the United States Lines for one voyage to carry American construction workers to air base projects in Bermuda . Acquired by the Navy on 24 April 1941 the ship was renamed " Antaeus " ( AS - 21 ) and commissioned on 17 May 1941 , Comdr . R . S . Morse in command . World War II service . Operations as USS " Antaeus " . Following her commissioning , the submarine tender operated in the Caribbean . She took part in training exercises and made repairs to the American submarine s patrolling in those waters . " Antaeus " finished this task in September 1942 , when she was assigned to transport duties and was redesignated " AG - 67 " . The ship then began shuttling troops to points in the Caribbean , the Panama Canal Zone , and to Argentia , Newfoundland , from bases at New York City and Davisville , Rhode Island . Conversion to hospital ship USS Rescue . " Antaeus " entered the New York Navy Yard , Brooklyn , New York , on 28 December 1944 . There , she underwent conversion to a hospital ship . On 18 January 1945 , the vessel was renamed " Rescue " and redesignated ( AH - 18 ) . Following a period of sea trials , the new hospital ship got underway for the Pacific Ocean theater of action . She arrived off Okinawa on 13 June , embarked men wounded in the fighting ashore , survived unscathed despite almost constant Japanese air attack against Allied shipping in the area , and safely delivered her patients to a hospital on Guam . With a bed capacity of 792 and a complement of 440 , " Rescue " provided hospital services , consultation , preventative medicine , and casualty evacuation . After a short upkeep period , " Rescue " joined the U . S . 3d Fleet on 5 July . She supported 3d Fleet ships conducting carrier strikes and bombardment of the Japanese home islands . The ship would rendezvous with the combatant vessels and take on casualties by breeches buoy both at night and under battle conditions . Upon the conclusion of World War II , " Rescue " sailed into Tokyo Bay with the 3d Fleet and began the medical screening of Allied prisoners of war and shuttling them from various prison camps to the base at Yokohama . Post - war activity . In late September , the ship arrived at Guam where she discharged a few former prisoners whose home had been on that island . " Rescue " then proceeded to San Francisco , California . She was decommissioned on 29 June 1946 and was transferred to the U . S . Maritime Administration . Her name was struck from the Navy List on 15 August 1946 . The vessel was subsequently refitted as a merchant ship and saw service as such from 1946 into 1959 , in which year she was scrapped . Honors and awards . " Rescue " earned two battle star s for her World War II service :