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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USS Haven (AH-12)

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Kilo - Delta - Kilo
 NKDK
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
Second Row - World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp) - National Defense Service Medal
Third Row - Korean Service Medal (9) - United Nations Service Medal - Republic of Korea War Service Medal (retroactive)
Haven Class Hospital Ship:
  • Laid down, date unknown, as SS Marine Hawk. a Maritime Commission type (C4-S-BB2), hull under Maritime Commission contract (MC 743), at Sun Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Chester, PA.
  • Launched, 24 June 1944
  • Acquired by the Navy from the Maritime Commission, 19 June 1944
  • Converted to a Hospital Ship at Todd-Erie Basin Shipyard, Inc., Brooklyn, N.Y.
  • Commissioned USS Haven (AH-12), 5 May 1945, CAPT. T. T. Patterson in command
  • During World War II USS Haven (AH-12) was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater
  • Temporarily reclassified Evacuation Transport (APH-112), 12 June 1946
  • Reclassified Hospital Ship (AH-12) in October 1946
  • Decommissioned, 1 July 1947, at San Diego, CA.
  • Laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet, San Diego Group
  • Recommissioned, 15 September 1950
  • During the Korean War USS Haven (AH-12) participated during the following campaigns:
    Korean War Campaigns
    Campaigns and Dates Campaigns and Dates
    North Korean Aggression
    17 October to 2 November 1950    		 Second Korean Winter
    30 January to 20 March 1952
    1 to 30 April 1952
    Communist China Aggression
    3 November 1959 to 9 January 1951    		 Korean Defense Summer-Fall 1952
    1 May to 28 June 1952
    19 July to 24 August 1952
    First UN Counter Offensive
    5 February to 2 April 1951    		 Third Korean Winter
    10 February to 6 April 1953
    26 to 30 April 1953
    Communist China Spring Offensive
    26 April to 8 July 1951    		 Korea Summer-Fall 1953
    1 May to 17 June 1953
    9 to 27 July 1953
    UN Summer-Fall Offensive
    9 July to 22 August 1951
    9 September to 7 October 1951    		 .

  • Decommissioned, 30 June 1957, at Long Beach, CA. and placed in service at Long Beach Naval Station
  • Placed out of service and struck from the Naval Register, 1 March 1967
  • Transferred to the Maritime Commission for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Suisun Bay, Benecia, CA.
  • Final Disposition, fate unknown
  • USS Haven received nine battle stars for Korean War service <
    Specifications:
    Displacement 11,141t(lt).15,400 t.(lim)
    Length 520'
    Beam 71' 6"
    Draft 24' 6" (lim)
    Speed 18.3 kts. (trial speed)
    Complement
    Officers 76
    Enlisted 498
    Largest Boom Capacity 10 t.
    Patient Capacity 800
    Armament none
    Fuel Oil Capacity
    Navy Standard Fuel Oil 13.170 bbls
    Diesel 280 bbls
    Propulsion
    one GE geared turbine
    two Babcock & Wilcox hearer-type boilers 450psi 745°
    double Falk Main Reduction Gear
    six turbo-driven Ship's Service Generators 3-500kW 450V D.C., 3-300kW 120V/240V D.C.
    single screw 9,000 shp
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Source
    Arneb 300k USS Haven (AH-12) at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, 7 February 1946. USS Arneb (AKA-56) is in the foreground.
    Mare Island Naval Shipyard photo # 557-46, 2/7/46    		 Darryl Baker
    Haven 56k USS Haven (AH-12), date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo    		 Naval Hospital Corps School Web Site
    Haven 69k USS Haven (AH-12), date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo    		 US Navy Hospital Ships Web Site
    Haven 42k USS Haven (AH-12), date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo    		 Hyperwar US Navy in WWII Web Site
    Haven 107k USS Haven (AH-12) pierside Nagasaki, Japan to take aboard liberated ex allied prisoners of war, some of whom were suffering from radiation exposure, circa 11 September 1945. Russ Padden from the USS Lanier cruise book
    Haven 122k USS Haven (AH-12) pierside Nagasaki, Japan, circa 11 September 1945. Russ Padden from the USS Lanier cruise book
    Haven 109k USS Haven (AH-12) underway between 1946 and 1952. Note the postwar hospital ship markings consisting of three red crosses connected by a horizontal bar.
    US Navy photo # NH 98791, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Haven 72k USS Haven (AH-12) at Pearl Harbor, 9 October 1950, soon after reactivation for the Korean War.
    US Navy photo # NH 98792, by JO3 T.H. Shole, USN, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Haven 61k USS Haven (AH-12) at anchor off Inchon, South Korea, 15 December 1950. Photographed by C. K. Rose, AF2.
    US Navy photo # NH 98794, by AF2 C.K. Rose, USN, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Haven 58k USS Haven (AH-12) at anchored off Korea in 1952. Haven was equipped with specially constructed and moored platforms designed to receive wounded personnel via helicopter.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, October 1952.    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Haven 137k USS Haven (AH-12) anchored at Inchon, Korea in 1952 with newly installed pontoon landing floats.
    US Navy photo from the collection of CDR Nancy Crosby, NC, USN, Ret., "Navy Medicine" magazine, March-April 2002.    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Haven 49k USS Haven (AH-12) receiving wounded from the front lines, while anchored off Inchon, South Korea, in August 1952. Note the Marine HRS-1 helicopter approaching the landing float to starboard. A second float was moored to port. These were replaced in late 1952 by a helo deck on the fantail.
    US Navy photo # NH 98793, by R. J. Franks, CCGT-3702, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 US Naval Historical Center.
    Haven 100k USS Haven (AH-12) underway circa 1953. Note the new helicopter deck on the fantail. Courtesy of The Mariners Museum, Newport News, Virginia. Ted Stone collection.
    US Navy Photo # 98795 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Haven 84k USS Haven (AH-12) anchored in Inchon harbor, Korea, 14 June 1953. Photographed by PHAN L.R. Dylina.
    US Navy Photo # K-16519, now in the collections of the US National Archives    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Haven 133k USS Haven (AH-12), date and location unknown.
    		 Capt Jerry Mason, USN Ret
    Haven 994k USS Haven (AH-12) underway, date and location unknown. David Buell
    Haven 994k USS Haven (AH-12) underway, 19 January 1954. Note the new hospital ship markings, without horizontal bars between the three red crosses.
    US Navy Photo # 98796 by Dick Bavior, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 David Buell
    Haven 96k USS Haven (AH-12) moored at pier 7, Naval Station Long Beach, CA., 1955 Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.
    View the USS Haven (AH-12)
    DANFS history entry located at the US Naval Historical Center
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
    Fleet Reserve Association
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    No Information Available
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 16 January 2009