USAHS Acadia

Last updated
S. S. "Acadia" on Eastern S. S. Lines, Inc., by Tichnor Brothers, c. 1931-1945, from the Digital Commonwealth - 1 commonwealth 8g84mw445.jpg
Acadia in civilian service
History
Flag of the United States.svg United States
NameAcadia
Owner Eastern Steamship Lines
Port of registry Boston
Builder Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Virginia
Laid down31 August 1931 [1]
Launched13 February 1932 [1]
CompletedDelivered 7 June 1932 [1]
Out of service8 October 1941 [2]
Identification
FateChartered to US Maritime Commission 1941
Notes
Flag of the United States.svgUnited States
NameUSAT Acadia
In service29 April 1942
FateConverted to hospital ship 1943
NotesTroop transport and ambulance ship
US flag 48 stars.svgUnited States
NameUSAHS Acadia
Decommissioned7 February 1946
In service5 June 1943
Out of service15 February 1947
FateReturned to owners 1947, sold to Belgian buyers May, 1955 [2]
NotesTransport service 1946–47
General characteristics
Displacement6,811
Length
  • 402 ft 9 in (122.8 m) o/a [1]
  • 387.4 ft (118.1 m) registered [3]
Beam61.2 ft (18.7 m) [3]
Depth29.0 ft (8.8 m) [3]
Decks3
Propulsion
Speed16 knots (30 km/h) [6]
Sensors and
processing systems

USAHS Acadia was the first United States Army Hospital Ship in World War II. Built in 1932 by Newport News Shipbuilding as a civilian passenger/cargo ocean liner for the Eastern Steamship Lines, the ship was in US coastal and Caribbean service prior to its acquisition by the US Maritime Administration in 1941.

Contents

Eastern Steamship Lines service

SS Acadia, along with her sister ship the St. John, entered US coastal service for the Eastern Steamship Lines in 1932, originally in New York-Yarmouth coastal service with some one way passages for New York-Yarmouth-Halifax or Saint John. [7] From 1938 to 1940 the ship's route was shifted to New York-Bermuda or Nassau service. [7] Both ships were designed by Theodore E. Ferris. [8] In 1939, the ship was chartered to United States Lines for one voyage in order to return American citizens from Europe. [9] In 1941 the ship was being operated by the Alcoa Steamship Company in a route from New York to St. Thomas, Antigua, Trinidad and return by way of Grenada, St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Dominica, St. Croix, St. Thomas. [10]

US Army service

On October 8, 1941, the United States Maritime Commission took control of Acadia from Alcoa Steamship Company in New York and for allocation to and charter by the Army Transport Service, then under the Quartermaster Corps, with operation by commercial shipping company agents. [2] [11] The ship was operated briefly by American West African Lines until restored to Alcoa operation on November 23 and operation by the line until returned to Eastern Steamship operation April 29, 1942 in New Orleans where control and the agreement was changed by the newly established War Shipping Administration (WSA) which now controlled and allocated all ocean going commercial type vessels. [2] [12] During the early part of 1942 Acadia was used to transport diplomats from South American countries and transporting German, Japanese and Italians from South America to internment in the United States. [13] [14]

Troop transport and ambulance ship

On October 16, 1942, at Boston, WSA allocated Acadia to the War Department on a bareboat basis for operation under the newly established Transportation Corps under which ships could be used as troop transports and ambulance ships for evacuation of wounded. [2] [15] During May 1942 Acadia was withdrawn from ordinary transport service and outfitted at the Boston Port of Embarkation for such a combined function with a troop capacity of 1,100 troops to overseas destinations and 530 patients on the return voyage; making the first voyage as such in December 1942. [11]

Private Martin Lipschultz, member of the ship's 204th Medical Hospital Ship Company, described the arrangements:

"The Acadia was the first combined troop-transport-hospital ship to sail from the United States in World War II with a full hospital complement aboard. The 204th Medical Hospital Ship Company consisted of 18 Officers, 37 Nurses, and 94 Enlisted Men (it was activated April 1943). At the time of its first trip the German U-Boat menace was far from gone, and the Acadia with her precious cargo of troops, would have been a fine target for any enemy torpedo...
"The first voyage ended at Casablanca, French Morocco… For the next 4 months the Acadia would be crossing between North Africa and New York, carrying troops on the outbound trip and wounded patients on the return voyage..." [16]

Hospital ship

In the early days of the war the Army had requested hospital ships but both the Bureau of the Budget and Maritime Commission had declined the request and noted such ships were properly the Navy's responsibility. When the Army renewed the request the administrator of the Maritime Commission, who also served as head of the War Shipping Administration, required the Army and Navy to agree on the strategic requirements for such ships before any allocation would be made. [17] The Army had decided on the dual troop transport ambulance ship solution until events forced a change to Hague Convention protected hospital ships. One such event was the refusal of both the North African and European Theater commands to load helpless, non ambulatory, patients aboard unprotected ships subject to attack. There was also evidence that the Germans, Italians and Japanese were respecting hospital ship status. [18]

Acadia as a hospital ship in the Italian Campaign in 1943 USAHS Acadia in Italian Campaign 1943.png
Acadia as a hospital ship in the Italian Campaign in 1943

On March 30, 1943, the Army's Surgeon General recommended Acadia be immediately registered as a hospital ship under the convention due to the urgency of the North African situation. [19] On May 6 the State Department was notified of the designation and Acadia, not needing extensive conversion due to the previous ambulance ship role and requiring mainly new paint and markings. [20] The quick conversion of Acadia is described by Private Martin Lipschultz:

"Then followed a short break with layover in New York harbor, while the ship exchanged her gray war paint coat for a white and green one. The anti-aircraft and other guns, the Navy crew, and the troopship bunks all went off, and after being duly registered under the Treaties of The Hague Convention, the new United States Army Hospital Ship Acadia was ready to sail once more." [16]

In June 1943 the Joint Chiefs of Staff had agreed that hospital ships would be the "normal means" of transporting helpless patients. [21] Earlier, in April, Army officials had decided on a fundamental difference between the function of Army hospital ships and Navy hospital ships in which the Army ships' medical facilities would be equipped only for emergency treatment of patients being transported between rear area hospitals or overseas to the United States and not the primary diagnosis and treatment of battle casualties as were the Navy's ships. [19] The Charleston Port of Embarkation had been selected as the "home port" for Atlantic hospital ships in 1943 and, after embarking medical staff, supplies and issuing the identification required by the convention for all ship's personnel, Acadia sailed from Charleston on June 5, 1943, for North Africa as the first United States Army Hospital Ship Acadia. [22] [23] [note 1]

Acadia, with a capacity for 788 patients and three surgical teams had no water ambulances was the larger of two hospital ships evacuating U.S. wounded from North Africa, but was too large to dock at Bizerte. [24] [25] [note 2] On the first evacuation in June 1943 the hospital ship lifted 788 patients from Oran to the United States. [26] The general shortage of ships meant that only three Army hospital ships, USAHS Seminole and USAHS Shamrock along with Acadia, were available in theater by the end of 1943 so that only 3,593 patients were evacuated to the United States by hospital ship as opposed to 16,284 by troop ship. [27]

During the Italian Campaign, though the ship did get to Italy, Acadia and Seminole were mainly used to transport patients from North African rear area hospitals to the United States while Shamrock was the only Army hospital ship normally engaged in transporting patients from Italy to North Africa. [23] [28] With the landings in Normandy patients were evacuated to the United Kingdom and Acadia was diverted to the Mediterranean theater. [29] The hospital ship made a brief appearance in the Pacific in 1945. [30]

Post-War service

On February 7, 1946, she was decommissioned as a hospital ship and converted for the carriage of dependants of service personnel and troops returning to the United States. [13] This transport service continued until February 15, 1947, when Acadia was placed under a WSA general agreement for operation by Eastern Steamship Lines until released from wartime service and coming under the line's full control on July 23, 1947. [2]

Under the agreements in place at that time between US ship owners and the Maritime Administration, the US government was to restore a vessel to its pre-war condition or reimburse the owner for necessary repairs. The government chose the second option but Eastern Steamship had no work done after July 23, 1947, when the line regained full control and the court found no record of such work. Eastern Steamship filed suit claiming $5,000,000 to restore the ship under the Shipping Act of 1916 on May 20, 1948, which applied the ships "employed solely as merchant vessels," as necessary to recondition the ship for commercial passenger and cargo service. The company claimed the ship became a commercial ship on February 15, 1947, when placed in control as agent pending delivery back to the company on July 23. The court determined the ship was not in commercial service but was a public vessel under the "bareboat requisition charter" with the appeals court upholding the lower court's finding the act did not apply and dismissal of the suit. [13]

The ship remained out of service during the litigation and appeal process and was eventually sold to Belgian buyers in May 1955. [2]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Smith on page 404 has "New York" but Protzman's more detailed account clearly has preparations for sailing to North Africa taking place at the Charleston Port of Embarkation which had been selected as the center for Atlantic hospital ship operations. The confusion may have been caused by the fact that Charleston POE had been a sub-port of the New York Port of Embarkation early in the war until elevated to full POE status.
  2. ↑ Wiltse has capacity of 806 on page 206 in connection with the North African period while 788 is given in connection with the Sicily evacuations on page 397. Since the first evacuation from Africa is stated as 788 (Bykofsky, page 178) that seems the likely capacity.

Related Research Articles

USS <i>Comfort</i> (AH-3)

USS Comfort (AH-3) was a hospital ship for the United States Navy in World War I. She was the sister ship of USS Mercy (AH-4) but the two ships were not of a ship class. Comfort was known as SS Havana in passenger service for the Ward Line, and as USAT Havana in United States Army service before her Navy service. Her name was restored to Havana in 1927, and she was renamed SS Yucatán in 1935, and SS Agwileon in 1941. In World War II, she was known as USAT Agwileon and USAHS Shamrock in service for the United States Army.

<i>Borinquen</i> (1930) Passenger liner and troop transport ship during WWII

SS Borinquen, the Taino language name for Puerto Rico, was a passenger liner launched 24 September 1930 and delivered to the Atlantic, Gulf & West Indies Steamship Lines (AGWI) in 1931 for operation by its subsidiary the New York & Porto Rico Line. The line operated the ship until it was requisitioned by the War Shipping Administration (WSA) the last day of 1941 for service as a troop transport. The line then operated the ship as agent for the WSA until 6 May 1944 when operation was transferred to the United States Army for support of the Normandy landings with the ship arriving off the beaches on 7 June 1944. Borinquen continued service post war until redelivered to the owners 14 June 1946. The ship was sold in 1949 and became the Arosa Star. After further sales and change in the cruise ship regulations the ship was again sold and grounded as La Jenelle on the California coast in 1970.

New York Port of Embarkation United States Army command

The New York Port of Embarkation (NYPOE) was a United States Army command responsible for the movement of troops and supplies from the United States to overseas commands. The command had facilities in New York and New Jersey, roughly covering the extent of today's Port of New York and New Jersey, as well as ports in other cities as sub-ports under its direct command. During World War I, when it was originally known as the Hoboken Port of Embarkation with headquarters in seized Hamburg America Line facilities in Hoboken, New Jersey, the Quartermaster Corps had responsibility. The sub-ports were at Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia and the Canadian ports of Halifax, Montreal and St. Johns. The World War I port of embarkation was disestablished, seized and requisitioned facilities returned or sold and operations consolidated at the new army terminal in Brooklyn. Between the wars reduced operations continued the core concepts of a port of embarkation and as the home port of Atlantic army ships. With war in Europe the army revived the formal New York Port of Embarkation command with the New York port, the only Atlantic port of embarkation, taking a lead in developing concepts for operations.

USS <i>Siboney</i> (ID-2999) United States Navy ship transport

USS Siboney (ID-2999) was a ship transport for the United States Navy during World War I. She was the sister ship of USS Orizaba (ID-1536) but neither was part of a ship class. Launched as SS Oriente, she was soon renamed after Siboney, Cuba, a landing site of United States forces during the Spanish–American War. After her navy service ended, she was SS Siboney for the New York & Cuba Mail Steamship Co.. The ship was operated under charter by American Export Lines beginning in late 1940. During World War II she served the U.S. Army as transport USAT Siboney and as hospital ship USAHS Charles A. Stafford.

USS <i>Samaritan</i> (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 <i>Wharton</i> (AP-7)

USS Wharton (AP-7) was a troop transport in the service of the United States Navy during World War II. The ship was originally an Emergency Fleet Corporation Design 1029 type built for the United States Shipping Board. The ship was laid down as Manmasco but renamed and launched as Sea Girt then completed September 1921 as Southern Cross. The ship was first allocated by the United States Shipping Board to the Munson Steamship Line until purchased by the line in 1925. Munson operated the Southern Cross in the South American trade from 1921 until 1938 when the ship was sold at a Marshall's sale and taken over by the United States Maritime Commission which paid the full mortgage claim.

SS <i>Munargo</i> (1921)

SS Munargo was a commercial cargo and passenger ship built for the Munson Steamship Line by New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, New Jersey launched 17 September 1921. Munargo operated for the line in the New York-Bahamas-Cuba-Miami service passenger cargo trade. In June 1930 the United States and Mexican soccer teams took passage aboard Munargo from New York to Uruguay for the 1930 FIFA World Cup. The ship was acquired by the War Shipping Administration and immediately purchased by the War Department for service as a troop carrier during World War II. Shortly after acquisition the War Department transferred the ship to the U.S. Navy which commissioned the ship USS Munargo (AP-20). She operated in the Atlantic Ocean for the Navy until returned to the War Department in 1943 for conversion into the Hospital ship USAHS Thistle.

USAT <i>St. Mihiel</i>

St. Mihiel was a troopship built for the United States Shipping Board by the American International Shipbuilding Corporation at Hog Island, Pennsylvania. The ship was operated from 1922 until mid-1940 as USAT St. Mihiel by the Army Transport Service. In July 1941 the ship was transferred to the Navy which commissioned her USS St. Mihiel with the hull number AP-32. In November 1943, she was transferred back to the Army and converted into the hospital ship, USAHS St. Mihiel.

USAT <i>John L. Clem</i> Ship

John L. Clem was built as the cargo and passenger liner Santa Ana for W. R. Grace and Company for service in Grace Line's South American service but was requisitioned before completion by the United States Shipping Board (USSB) in 1918 due to World War I. The ship was chartered back to Grace after completion until turned over to the United States Navy to be briefly commissioned as the troop transport USS Santa Ana (ID-2869) from 11 February 1919 to 21 July 1919.

Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij

Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij, better known as KPM, was a Dutch shipping company (1888–1966) in the Netherlands East Indies, now Indonesia. It was the dominant inter-island shipping line in Indonesia during the last half century of the colonial era.

USS <i>Antaeus</i> Tender of the United States Navy

USS Antaeus (AS-21/AG-67) was a commercial passenger liner that the United States Navy acquired in World War II. She was SS Saint John from 1932 until 1941 before she the US Navy acquired her and commissioned her as Antaeus. From 1941 to 1943, she was a submarine tender; she was later redesignated AG-67 and used as a troop transport from 1943 to 1944. In 1945, she was converted to a hospital ship, renamed USS Rescue (AH-18), and served in the Pacific War. Decommissioned in 1946, she was sold for scrap in 1958.

SS <i>Tasman</i> (1921) Dutch vessel under Allied command in the South Pacific during World War II

SS Tasman was a 4,922 gross register tons (GRT) Dutch steamship built by Earle's Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Limited, Hull in 1921 for Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij (KPM), Batavia. With outbreak of the war in the Pacific and the fall of the Dutch East Indies, Tasman was one of 21 KPM vessels that sought refuge in Australia. These ships became the core of the initial Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA) command's permanent local fleet under U.S. Army control. After general service as a transport, the ship was converted to a hospital ship at Melbourne. The ship, under the Dutch flag and Dutch certification under the Hague Convention, served the remainder of the war as a Dutch hospital ship.

USAHS <i>Marigold</i>

USAHS Marigold was a United States Army hospital ship during World War II. The ship was built as Old North State in 1920 for the United States Shipping Board as a civilian passenger/cargo liner. The ship changed ownership and operating companies several times with name changes to President Van Buren and President Fillmore before being acquired for military transport service in 1941. After government acquisition during World War II President Fillmore served as a War Shipping Administration troop transport before conversion to hospital ship service.

SS <i>Mactan</i> (1898)

SS Mactan was launched 28 December 1898 as the passenger/cargo ship North Lyell for North Mount Lyell Copper Co.Ltd. intended for service between the west coast of Tasmania and Melbourne. The company no longer needed the ship on delivery in 1899 with resulting sale to Union Steamship Company of New Zealand Ltd. and renaming as Moura. In 1915 upon sale to the Douglas Steamship Company, Ltd. of Hong Kong she was renamed Hai Hong. Upon sale to Philippine operators in 1928 the ship gained the final name Mactan.

SS Haiti was a passenger and freight ship built for the Colombian Mail Steamship Company built at Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Virginia and delivered 15 December 1932. The ship was renamed briefly Puerto Rico in 1938 and Monterey in 1939 to operate for the New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Company until requisitioned with transfer of title to the War Shipping Administration (WSA) on 25 September 1942. The ship was then allocated to the U.S. Army for operation under a bareboat agreement as USAT Monterey. In 1943 the ship was assigned to the command at Trinidad to supply bases in Brazil and Ascension Island. After layup in the reserve fleet the ship was sold to Turkey.

Charleston Port of Embarkation US Army port of Embarkation during World War II

The Charleston Port of Embarkation (CPOE) was a United States Army Port of Embarkation (POE) responsible for the movement of troops and supplies from the United States to overseas commands. The CPOE was established in Charleston to relieve pressure on the New York Port of Embarkation with initial responsibility largely centered on the West Indies and Caribbean. After the United States entered the war Charleston became a POE in its own right. Later in the war, more use was be made of the Port, and it was designated as the home port for Army hospital ships serving the European and Mediterranean theaters. In the spring of 1943 the Chief of Transportation began to train personnel for the operation and maintenance of small boats and amphibian trucks there, before they were moved to Camp Gordon Johnston. The CPOE also served as a training place for army beach landings.

MS <i>Saturnia</i> Italian ocean liner later converted to troopship and later hospital ship

MV Saturnia was an Italian ocean liner named after Saturnia, Tuscany, the first of two sister ships built in Trieste for Cosulich Soc. Triestina di Nav. of Trieste and launched in 1925. Sister ship MS Vulcania was launched the next year. Saturnia served into World War II for Italy and upon the Italian armistice with the Allies was delivered to the U.S. War Shipping Administration (WSA) in an arrangement made between Italy and Admiral Cunningham of the Royal Navy, approved by General Eisenhower.

Allied logistics in the Southern France campaign World War II logistics

Allied logistics in the Southern France campaign played a key role in the success of Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of southern France during World War II. The campaign officially commenced with the US Seventh Army landings on the French Riviera on 15 August 1944. On 12 September, the Seventh Army made contact with Allied forces that had landed in Normandy earlier that year as part of Operation Overlord. The supporting logistical organizations continued to operate separately, with the Southern Line of Communications supporting the Seventh Army drawing its supplies from the North African Theater of Operations until it merged with the Communications Zone of the European Theater of Operations on 20 November.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Pacific Marine Review (July 1932).
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 MARAD Vessel Status Card: Acadia.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Lloyd's Register (1933).
  4. 1 2 3 Lloyd's Register (1936).
  5. ↑ Colton: Newport News Shipbuilding.
  6. ↑ "Troops and Cargo Transported During World War II under U.S. Army Control". American Merchant Marine at War, www.usmm.org. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
  7. 1 2 "TimeTable Images-Eastern Steamship Lines". Björn Larsson, Maritime Timetable Images. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  8. ↑ Pacific Marine Review (June 1932), p. 219.
  9. ↑ "SIU & Maritime History". Seafarers International Union. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  10. ↑ Larsson: Alcoa Steamship Co.
  11. 1 2 Smith 1956, p. 398.
  12. ↑ Executive Order No. 9054.
  13. 1 2 3 Eastern S. S. Lines, Inc. v. United States, 187U.S.D.2d 956 (United States Court of Appeals First Circuit23 March 1951).
  14. ↑ Miyake 2002, p. 172 fn 64.
  15. ↑ Smith 1956, pp. 397–398.
  16. 1 2 "Veteran's Testimony – Martin Lipschultz 204th Medical Hospital Ship Company". WW2 US Medical Research Centre. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  17. ↑ Smith 1956, pp. 396–397.
  18. ↑ Smith 1956, p. 402.
  19. 1 2 Smith 1956, p. 403.
  20. ↑ Smith 1956, p. 404.
  21. ↑ Wardlow 1956, p. 218.
  22. ↑ Wardlow 1956, p. 222.
  23. 1 2 Protzman: Timeline.
  24. ↑ Wiltse 1965, p. 206, 397.
  25. ↑ "USAHS U.S. Army Hospital Ships". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  26. ↑ Bykofsky & Larson 1990, p. 178.
  27. ↑ Bykofsky & Larson 1990, p. 179.
  28. ↑ Wiltse 1965, p. 341.
  29. ↑ Bykofsky & Larson 1990, p. 365.
  30. ↑ Masterson 1949, p. 411.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.