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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

Contributed by Tommy Trampp

USAHS Mercy (II)
ex
USS Mercy (AH-8) (1944 - 1945)

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Bravo - Delta - Kilo NBDK

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (2) - World War II Victory Medal
Bottom Row - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp) - Philippines Presidential Unit Citation - Philippines Liberation Medal (1)

Comfort Class Hospital Ship:

Laid down, 4 February 1943, under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1032) at Consolidated Steel, Corp., Wilmington, CA.

Acquired by the Navy from the Maritime Commission

Launched and delivered to the US Navy, 25 March 1943

Converted to a Hospital Ship at Los Angeles Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., San Pedro, CA.

Commissioned USS Mercy (AH-8), 7 August 1944, CAPT. Thomas Archer Esling, USNR, in command

During World War II USS Mercy was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific theater and participated in the following campaigns:

Campaign and Dates	Campaign and Dates
Asiatic-Pacific Campaigns
Leyte operation Leyte landings, 22 October to 16 December 1944	Okinawa Gunto operation Assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto, 19 April to 17 May 1945

Following World War II USS Mercy was assigned to Occupation service in the Far East from 2 September to 14 October 1945

Decommissioned, 17 May 1945, at San Francisco, CA.

Turned over to the US Army, 19 May 1945, for further use as a hospital ship

Struck from the Naval Register, 25 September 1946

USS Mercy earned two battle stars for World War II service

Returned to the Maritime Commission by the US Army, 6 February 1950

Custody transferred to Bethlehem Steel Co., 27 March 1956, for conversion to a Training Ship

Loaned by the Maritime Administration to the State University of New York Maritime College at Fort Schuyler, Bronx, N.Y., 23 May 1956, for use as a training ship

Renamed T/S Empire State III in June 1956

Returned to the Maritime Administration, 3 June 1960, for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Hudson River Group

Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 23 November 1970, to Aguilar y Peris, S.L., Valencia, Spain, c/o Boston Metals. (PD-X-888 dated 2 November 1970) for $335,500.00 part of a five ship sale.

Specifications:
Displacement 9,800 t.(fl) 11,250 t.(lim)
Length 416'
Beam 60'
Draft 24' 6" (lim)
Speed 15.3 kts (trial)

Complement

Officers 80

Enlisted 436

Patient Capacity 700

Largest Boom Capacity 5 t.

Armament none

Fuel Capacities

NSFO 12,010 bbls

Diesel 600 Bbls

Propulsion

one J.H. geared steam turbine

three Babcock and Wilcox header-type boilers, 450psi 750°

double J.H Main Reduction Gear

three turbo-drive 300Kw 120V/240V D.C. Ship's Service Generators

single propeller, 4,000shp

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Source
USS Mercy (AH-8)
	114k	Todd Shipyards Corp., San Pedro, CA. completion photo of *USS Mercy* (AH-8)**, circa August 1944. US Navy Bureau of Ships photo, courtesy Shipscribe.com.	Mike Green
	23k	*USS Mercy* (AH-8)** moored pierside at San Pedro, CA. in 1944. Original caption "In sharp contrast to the camouflaged and blacked-out ships sailing in and out of here is this highly illuminated hospital ship, the USS Mercy, shown at dock here after a trial run. Operating with the markings of and under the rules of the Geneva conference the *Mercy* will look like this even when sailing through the waters in the combat zone. Recently completed at the Todd L.A. shipyard this second white ship to come from local yards will leave soon for it's first mission It is a floating modern 700 bed hospital operated with a navy crew and an army medical unit." US Navy photo.	Photo - Ron Reeves Caption Jim Kurrasch Battleship Iowa Pacific Battleship Center
NH 103222	88k	*USS Mercy* (AH-8)** under way in San Pedro Bay, CA., 15 August 1944. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo #'s NH 103222, courtesy Shipscribe.com and NH 106481 from the US Naval History and Heritage Command.	Mike Green Robert Hurst
NH 106481	99k		Mike Green Robert Hurst
	114k	*USS Mercy* (AH-8)** preparing to hoist aboard a patient in a stretcher off Mios Woendi, a small island near Biak off northwestern New Guinea, circa 1944-1945. Note the other patients in the boat awaiting transfer. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 106290. Donation of Captain Stephen S. Roberts, USNR (Retired), 2008.	Robert Hurst
	90k	*USS Mercy* (AH-8)** carrying a patient in a stretcher up the ship's accommodation ladder off Mios Woendi, circa 1944-1945 US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 106291. Donation of Captain Stephen S. Roberts, USNR (Retired), 2008.	Robert Hurst
	91k	*USS Mercy* (AH-8)** crew members, circa 1944-1945. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 106293. Donation of Captain Stephen S. Roberts, USNR (Retired), 2008.	Robert Hurst
	91k	*USS Mercy* (AH-8)** full power off the coast of California as she heads for the South Pacific, 19 August 1944. Photo from author's collection, "Hospital Ships of World War II: An Illustrated Reference" by Emory A. Massman.	Robert Hurst
	142k	*USS Mercy* (AH-8)** at Tacloban, Leyte, date unknown, with wounded servicemen on the dock waiting to be loaded aboard ship. US National Archives photo # 80-G-319367 a US Navy photo from "Hospital Ships of World War II: An Illustrated Reference" by Emory A. Massman.	Robert Hurst
	98k	*USS Mercy* (AH-8)** at Tacloban, Leyte, date unknown, with wounded servicemen on the dock being brought aboard ship using a platform and the ships gear. US National Archives photo # 80-G-319347 a US Navy photo from "Hospital Ships of World War II: An Illustrated Reference" by Emory A. Massman.	Robert Hurst
	366k	*USS Mercy* (AH-8)** leaves embattled Leyte Island with wounded American soldiers a few days after the initial invasion. She is shown sailing across the bow of a US Coast Guard manned LST. US National Archives photo # 80-G-322052 a US Navy photo from "Hospital Ships of World War II: An Illustrated Reference" by Emory A. Massman.	Robert Hurst
	74k	*USS Mercy* (AH-8)** docking at Guam, 9 May 1945, to discharge men wounded at Okinawa. A US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives. Photo #: 80-G-322053, courtesy Shipscribe.com.	Mike Green
	835k	USS LCI(G)-458 bring wounded to *USS Mercy* (AH-8)**, date and location unknown.	Jerry Gilmartin MMC(SW) USN Ret. Secretary AFMM LCI 713, Curator PT-658 Save the PT Boat Inc, courtesy Dennis Blocker LCI National Association Historian
	781k
	110k	*USS Mercy* (AH-8) just arrived at Guam with wounded from Okinawa, date unknown. Navy ambulances on the dock wait to transport the wounded to a shore side hospital. After unloading Mercy** quickly returned to the invasion beaches. US National Archives photo # 80-G-319402 a US Navy photo from "Hospital Ships of World War II: An Illustrated Reference" by Emory A. Massman.	Robert Hurst
USAHS Mercy (II)
09120815	228k	*USAHS Mercy* (II)** heading west out of San Francisco Bay with Angel Island in the background circa 1948-50. She is now operated by US Army and her medical staff is Army as it was in WWII in the Pacific. Vallejo Naval & Historical Museum	Darryl Baker
T/S Empire State III
	48k	*Ex-Mercy* (AH-8) as the State University of New York Maritime College training ship Empire State III**.	.