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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive


Contributed by Don Mc Grogan

USAT Hope
ex
USS Hope (AH-7) (1944 - 1946)

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Alpha - Uniform - Juliet
NAUJ
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons



Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive, 3 & 6 Dec. 1944, and at Okinawa)
Second Row - American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (2) - World War II Victory Medal
Third Row - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp) - Philippines Presidential Unit Citation - Philippines Liberation Medal (1)


Comfort Class Hospital Ship:
  • Laid down, date unknown, as SS Fred Morris a Maritime Commission type (C1-B) hull under Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 490) at Consolidated Steel, Corp., Wilmington, CA.
  • Launched and acquired by the US Navy from the War Shipping Administration, 30 August 1943
  • Converted to a Hospital Ship at US Naval Dry Dock, Terminal Island, CA.
  • Commissioned USS Hope (AH-7), 15 August 1944, CDR. Albert E. Richards in command
  • During World War II USS Hope was assigned to Asiatic-Pacific Theater and participated in the following campaigns:

    Asiatic-Pacific Campaigns
    Campaign and Dates Campaign and Dates
    Leyte operation
    :Leyte landings, 8 to 29 November 1944
    Okinawa Gunto operation
    Assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto, 13 April to 12 May 1945

  • Following World War II USS Hope was assigned to Occupation service in the Far East from 2 to 26 September 1945
  • Decommissioned, 9 May 1946, at San Francisco, CA.
  • Turned over to the US Army for further use as a transport, 26 April 1946
  • Struck from the Naval Register, date unknown
  • USS Hope earned two battle stars of World War II service
  • Transferred to the US Army assigned to the Transportation Corps for service as a transport
  • Transferred to the Maritime Commission, 5 January 1950 for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Suisun Bay, Benecia, CA.
  • Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 16 February 1978, to Union Minerals & Alloys Corp. (PD-X-1025) for $130,000.00, Withdrawn from the Reserve Fleet at Suisun Bay, 10 March 1978
    Specifications:
    Displacement 9,800 t.(fl)
    Length 416'
    Beam 60'
    Draft 24'
    Speed 15 kts.
    Complement
    Officers 80
    Enlisted 436
    Patient Accommodations 400
    Largest Boom Capacity 5 t.
    Fuel Capacities
    NSFO 12,010 Bbls
    Diesel 615 Bbls
    Propulsion
    one J. H. geared turbine
    three Babcock and Wilcox header-type boilers, 450psi 750°
    double J. H. Main Reduction Gears
    three 300Kw 120V/240V Ship's Service Generators
    one propeller, 4,000shp

    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image
    Size Image Description Source
    USS Hope (AH-7)
    Hope 272k USS Hope (AH-7) under way off the coast of Southern California, 30 August 1944. Photographed from a blimp of squadron ZP-31.
    US National Archives Photo # 80-G-246912, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives.
    Robert Hurst
    Hope 58k USS Hope (AH-7) moored in port, date and location unknown. Tommy Trampp
    Hope 117k USS Hope (AH-7) moored to a buoy, date and location unknown. Tommy Trampp
    Hope
    09120706
    66k USS Hope (AH-7) at anchor date and location unknown. Tommy Trampp
    Hope 263k The wheel from USS Hope (AH-7), as prepared for presentation to the entertainer Bob Hope. Photographed 13 April 1970 at the Naval Photographic Center, Washington, D.C. This photograph has been retouched to obscure the inscriptions on the two plagues attached to the wheel.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 103221, by PH2 J.W. Wilson
    Robert Hurst
    USAT Hope
    Hope 57k USAT Hope underway, date and location unknown. Tommy Trampp
    Hope
    09120707
    159k USAT Hope with Army tug alongside in San Francisco Bay and with Alcatraz to the right, circa 1946-1950. Darryl Baker

    USS Hope (AH-7)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officers
    01CDR. Richards, Albert E., USNR15 August 1944 - December 1945
    02CDR. Hurley, Elmer C., USNRDecember 1945 - 9 May 1946
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler

    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log

    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    USS Hope

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    Last Updated 7 April 2023