USS Solace (AH-2)
The first
USS Solace (AH-2) was a
hospital ship in the
United States Navy.
Solace was built in 1896 and 1897 by the
Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.,
Newport News, Va.; and was operated as the SS
Creole by the
Cromwell Steamship Lines. The ship was acquired by the
United States Navy on 7 April 1898, renamed
Solace, and converted into a hospital ship. She was the first Navy ship to fly the Geneva Red Cross flag. Solace was commissioned on 14 April 1898, Comdr. A. Dunlap in command.
The hospital ship was in constant service during the
Spanish-American War, returning wounded and ill servicemen from
Cuba to Norfolk,
New York, and
Boston. In February 1899, she sailed for
Europe, and she visited ports there, in the Near East, the Far East, and
Hawaii, before arriving at
Mare Island, Calif., on 27 May, for an overhaul. She returned to sea on 1 July 1899 and, until October 1905, carried mail, passengers, and provisions from
San Francisco to Hawaii,
Guam, the
Philippine Islands,
China, and
Japan.
Solace was out of commission at the
Mare Island Navy Yard from 12 October 1905 until 3 June 1908. Recommissioned on the latter date, the ship voyaged to the
Fiji Islands;
Samoa; and
Magdalena Bay,
Mexico, before transiting the
Panama Canal, calling at
Caribbean ports, and steaming to
Charleston, S.C. Solace was decommissioned there from 14 April until 20 November 1909. She joined the Atlantic Fleet on 6 December and served it as a hospital ship at ports along the eastern seaboard of the United States from
Newport, R.I., to
Key West, Fla. She also operated at
Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba; in the
Panama Canal Zone; and at other ports in the Caribbean. This routine was broken in October and November 1913 by a five-week voyage to
France. She was stationed in New York Harbor at the 82d Street Landing in late December 1918.
On 1 January 1919,
Solace was ordered to proceed to the vicinity of
Northern Pacific, then aground off
Fire Island, N.Y., loaded with wounded veterans returning from France.
Solace anchored off Fire Island that night. The next day, heavy seas prevented the transfer of survivors from
Northern Pacific to the hospital ship. The seas subsided on the 3d, and small boats began the transfer. Patients were taken on board all of that day and by the time
Solace was ready to return to New York on the 4th, she had a total of 504 patients on board even though her berthing facilities could accommodate only about 200. These were used for the seriously wounded while the remainder were put in cots.
Solace returned to
Hoboken, N.J., that night; and, by 0530 on 5 January, had debarked all of the patients.
After her detachment from the Atlantic Fleet on 1 April 1921,
Solace was berthed at the
Philadelphia Navy Yard. She was decommissioned on 20 July 1921; struck from the Navy list on 6 August 1930; and sold to
Boston Metals Co.,
Baltimore, Md., on 6 November for scrap.
See
USS Solace for other ships of the same name.
*
Naval Historical Center
