USS REPOSE HISTORY

The hospital in USS REPOSE was state of the art when she was commissioned in 1945.  The latest innovations and equipment required for the treatment of the sick and injured were incorporated into the ship’s design. The passageways were wide enough to accommodate two gurneys passing each other, and its operating suites were much larger than operating rooms in land-based hospitals because doctors often performed more than one specialty surgery at a time.   These spacious rooms, equipped with state-of-the-art equipment ensured wounded troops received the best care. 

In addition to surgery, the ship provided a wide range of medical services.  Dental, optometry, psychiatric, physical therapy, pharmacy, radiology, laboratory services and burn care units were some of the health services available. All of these facilities and beds for 750 patients were contained in a ship about 520 feet long and 70 feet wide.  

USS REPOSE had two captains: the ship's skipper and a Medical Corps captain in charge of the Hospital in Repose.  The hospital crew consisted of 25 physicians, 3 dentists, 4 Medical Service Corps officers, and 29 nurses assisted by about 315 chief petty officers and corpsmen.  The ship's crew had a complement of about 315 enlisted men and 25 officers.  

COMMISSIONING

The Sun Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, at Chester, Pennsylvania under contract to the United States Maritime Commission, built USS REPOSE.  Her keel was laid on October 22, 1943.  She was launched as SS MARINE BEAVER on August 8, 1944, but she was delivered to the Navy prior to completion for conversion to a hospital ship.  She was commissioned USS REPOSE on May 26, 1945.  Her sponsor was Mrs. Pauline McIntire, wife of Vice Admiral Ross T. McIntire, Chief of Bureau of Medicine and Surgery and President Franklin Roosevelt’s personal physician.

After extensive preparation, she sailed to Cristobal, Canal Zone, entering the Pacific Ocean on July 14, 1945 as an active unit of the U. S. Pacific Fleet.  On September 16, 1945, she stood out from Buckner Bay, Okinawa to ride out a typhoon of such intensity that it sheared off fireplugs on her main deck and bared the metal beneath her paint.  It took her crew only a week to repair this damage and she then set course for her next duty station, Shanghai, China.  There, as a unit of the Pacific Fleet’s Services Squadron 10, she remained from September 30, 1945 until October 15, 1946, with exception of a week at Tsingtao, China.

NORTH CHINA STATION

The USS REPOSE spent most of the years from 1945-1949 in the North China Station, assisting in evacuations of civilians and treatment of British casualties from actions by the Communist Chinese.  She returned to Tsingtao, China to join USS BENEVOLENCE (AH-13) following completion of routine repairs and modernization in San Francisco, California.  Between March 1, 1947 and April 29, 1949, only a two-week availability at Yokosuka, Japan for repairs and nine days at Shanghai, interrupted two years of continuous serviced at this North China Station.

In April 1949, USS REPOSE received casualties from HMS LONDON, HMS BLACK SWAN, and HMS AMETHYST, victims of attacks by the Communist Chinese known as the Yangtze Incident.  A plaque commemorating this support was donated to the USS REPOSE by the HMS LONDON.  On April 29, 1949, with 77 British casualties and 118 American evacuees from Shanghai, USS REPOSE sailed for Hong Kong.  After several calls at Chinese, Japanese, Okinawan, and Philippine ports, USS REPOSE sailed from Subic Bay on July 5, 1949 arriving at Long Beach, California on July 27.

KOREAN CONFLICT  

USS REPOSE was operated under a civilian crew by the Military Sea Transportation Service from September 3, 1949 to August 26, 1950 when she once again resumed her Navy role as an active duty Navy ship in the Korean Conflict.   With her new Navy crew she sailed from Yokosuka, Japan to Pusan, Korea.  She returned to Japan on October 27, 1950 with 189 United Nations casualties on board.  At 1112 on October 28, 1950, USS REPOSE was officially returned to commissioned service.

USS REPOSE arrived at Inchon, Korea on November 13, 1950, then sailed to Chinnanpo, Korea on November 19 and returned to Inchon on December 4 with 752 casualties from Pyongyang.  She supported U. N. and U. S. forces during the destruction of the port of Inchon and the burning of the city by North Korean forces in early January 1951.  Her next mission was in Pobang Dong, to support the First Marine Division.  February 18, 1951 found her back in Pusan to evacuate 741 U. S. Army casualties to Kobe, Japan.  Joined by sister ship, USS HAVEN (AH-12), USS REPOSE celebrated her first year of Korean Service by throwing a party for 500 orphans at Pusan’s “Happy Mountain Orphanage.”

On January 22, 1952, USS REPOSE sailed homeward for renovation, repair and installation of a helicopter flight deck that would greatly help facilitate direct evacuation of casualties from the field to the hospital—a new era in direct evacuation of casualties was established.  She returned once again to the Orient, arriving at Inchon on June 24, 1952.  This time, USS REPOSE was to share her workload of increasing casualties from the Danish Hospital Ship JUTLANDIA and the USS CONSOLATION (AH-15).

On June 10, 1953, Admiral M. W. Murphy, Commander Services Squadron Three, awarded the Korean Presidential Unit Citation to USS REPOSE.  The USS REPOSE remained in Korean waters until January 15, 1954 with only a few brief diversions to evacuate patients and a short respite in Hong Kong.  She arrived home on February 11 and served briefly as a pier side hospital on the West Coast.  USS REPOSE was decommissioned on December 21, 1954 at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, San Francisco, California.

    VIETNAM ERA 

After ten and one-half years with the Reserve Fleet at Suisan Bay, California, USS REPOSE was once again called to active duty.  She returned to commissioned service in the U. S. Navy at 1400 on October 16, 1965 ands within 151 days after call-up the USS REPOSE departed San Francisco on January 3, 1966.   After refresher training and upkeep in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and Subic Bay, Philippines, she arrived in Chu Lai, Republic of Vietnam on February 14, 1966.

Vietnam marked the innovation of the concept of mobile hospital support.  In this war, USS REPOSE was stationed offshore near the sites of the heaviest battles and took virtually all casualties aboard by helo.  She was usually underway and seldom departed the combat zone.  Her mission was her area of responsibility in I Corps Tactical Zone from DaNang north to the DMZ (17^th parallel).  On January 30, 1967, she performed the 3000 consecutive successful helicopter landing.  On March 29, 1967, she marked the 2000^th surgical operation in Vietnam.

USS REPOSE’s sister ship, USS SANCTUARY (AH-17) arrived in Vietnam in April 1967 to share the ever-increasing workload of combat casualties.  The ships alternated duty.  One hospital ship would spend three days off Dong Ha near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in northern I Corps, while the other was in DaNang Harbor.  Every three months one ship would steam to Subic Bay Naval Base in the Philippines for approximately 10 days of maintenance (and some liberty for the crew), while the other stayed “on the line” off Dong Ha.

On May 14, 1967, USS REPOSE admitted a record 98 patients in a single day.  USS REPOSE was called from DaNang Harbor on July 29, 1967 to give emergency assistance to the USS FORRESTAL (CVA-59) when the latter suffered a major fire while on YANKEE Station in the Gulf of Tonkin.  The USS REPOSE cared for over 30 serious casualties from this tragic disaster.

On August 19, 1967, in ceremonies held while on station in Vietnamese waters, USS REPOSE was presented the Navy Unit Commendation by Rear Admiral H. G. Ward, Commander Service Group Three, for exceptional service from February 22, 1966 to February 8, 1967 in the I Corps Tactical Zone.

On August 29, 1967, Repose set yet another high by admitting 112 patients in one day.  In mid-November she made her last liberty port visit to Hong Kong.  The ever-increasing demands for her services in Vietnamese waters made it difficult to gain release from the combat zone for even short upkeep periods.  Patient admissions, helo landings, and tempo of combat operations are reflected by these statistics: the 5,000 helo landing in early December, the 6,000 on April 30, 1968, and the 7,000 on June 28, 1968.  She achieved a new high for patient admissions in a single week when admitting 400 patients between May 26 and June 1, 1968, and established a new high of monthly admissions for admitting 953 patients (of whom 630 were wounded in action), the number of surgical operations performed in Vietnamese waters reached 5,000 on August 2, 1968.

The USS REPOSE marked her 9,000th safe helo landing on November 15, 1968 and her 10,000th helo landing on January 27, 1969.  In spite of the strenuous on-the-line commitments of 81 days per quarter in the combat zone, a high order of efficiency, service and crew’s morale was achieved.  There were many occasions the medical personnel aboard the USS REPOSE were inundated with patients, and often worked 36 hours without rest.  By the end of October 1969, she compiled these impressive statistics:  after her 44^th consecutive month in Vietnamese waters, she admitted a total of 22,610 patients of whom 8,493 were wounded in action.  During this same period of time 13,438 patients were returned to full duty and over 7,000 medically air evacuated to other Pacific Command or hospitals in the United States for further treatment.  In addition and in keeping with the People-to-People Program, 1,719 Vietnamese patients were admitted for treatment.  On September 21, 1969, the USS REPOSE celebrated her 14,000 consecutive safe helicopter landing on her flight deck.

On January 17, 1970, the USS REPOSE was presented the Navy Unit Commendation.  Vice Admiral William F. Bringle Commander; U. S. Seventh Fleet presented the commendation to Commanding Officer of the ship Captain R. F. Menge, USN and Commanding Officer of the Naval Hospital in REPOSE Captain A. J. Draper, MC, USN.  This was the second award for the REPOSE since coming into commission in 1965.  It was awarded for exceptionally meritorious service from February 9, 1967 to April 1, 1969 while providing highly responsive hospital-ship services to the III Marine Amphibious Force in waters adjacent to the I Corps Tactical Zone of the Republic of Vietnam.

Prior to her return to her home port of Alameda on April 30, 1970, USS REPOSE admitted over 24,000 patients, including more that 9,000 battle casualties, performed nearly 8,000 surgical operations, and her flight deck saw over 16,00 consecutive safe helicopter landings.  At 1013 hours on February 1970, the USS REPOSE recorded her 16,000-accident free helicopter landing.  The USS REPOSE served not only Allied military personnel, but also Vietnamese civilians.  When operating rooms and personnel were available, surgeons restored the appearance of damaged faces and corrected severe birth defects for Vietnamese children.

HOMEWARD BOUND 

On March 14, 1970, as war casualty loads decreased, the USS REPOSE left the South China Sea to return home, leaving USS SANCTUARY as the sole Navy hospital ship in Southeast Asia.  The USS REPOSE paid a final visit to Subic Bay, then steamed to Hong Kong where she received a fresh coat of white paint for her hull and red for her crosses.  The next stop was Kobe, Japan, where the crew was allowed liberty to attend the 1970 World’s Fair.  After a few days in Yokosuka, she steamed east across the Pacific to Pear Harbor, and eventually arrived at her homeport of Alameda, near Oakland, on April 30, 1970.

Following her short stay in Alameda, California, the USS REPOSE departed for Long Beach, California.  The USS REPOSE (AH-16) was decommissioned at 0900 hours on August 15, 1970.  As is traditional at the decommissioning on a naval ship, the ensign was presented to Senior Chief Petty officer Phoenix, USN, and the crewmember with the longest service on board; the Union Jack was presented to SA S. A. Gardner, the youngest crewmember; and Commanding Officer, USS REPOSE (AH-16) Captain Robert F. Menge, USN received the Commission Pennant.

The U. S. Navy commission pennant for a hospital ship is the Red Cross Flag as compared to a man of war ship pennant, which is blue at the hoist with a union of seven white stars and a horizontal red and white stripe at the fly.

The decommissioning ceremony of the USS REPOSE (AH-16) marked the retirement of the ship as a unit of the operating forces of the United States Navy.  At the moment of lowering the commission pennant, USS REPOSE (AH-16) was no longer the responsibility of the Commanding Officer who, together with the ship’s officers and men, had the responsibility of making and keeping her ready for any mission required by our nation in peace or war.

The USS REPOSE (AH-16) served as a dockside hospital for Long Beach Naval Hospital after she was decommissioned.  This proved uneconomical.   After more than 20 years of commissioned service spanning three wars, the “Angel of the Orient” was sold for scrap in 1974.      

The USS SANCTUARY (AH-17) is the last surviving HAVEN Class hospital ship.  She is currently embroiled in litigation, and is moored as a derelict at Locust Point in Baltimore Harbor.  In August 2007 the Maryland Port Authority sold the ship for $50,000 to a Greek shipping company, but her fate is currently uncertain because of contaminants, such as asbestos, that prevent her release from US waters.