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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

AH-15 Consolation

Flag Hoist/International Radio Call Sign:
November - Kilo - Delta - Sierra

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 (10 stars) - United Nations Service Medal - Republic of Korea War Service Medal (retroactive)

Haven Class Hospital Ship:

Laid down as SS Marine Walrus, a Maritime Commission type (C4-S-B2) hull, under Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 746) at Sun Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Chester, PA.

Launched, 1 August 1944

Acquired by the Navy from the Maritime Commission, 30 August 1944

Converted to a Hospital Ship at Bethlehem Steel Co., Hoboken, N.J.

Commissioned USS Consolation (AH-15), 22 May 1945, CDR. P. S. Tambling in command

During the Korean War Consolation (AH-15) participated in the following campaigns:

**Korean War Campaigns**
Campaign and Dates	Campaign and Dates
North Korean Aggression 16 August to 15 September 1950 18 September to 2 November 1950	UN Summer-Fall Offensive 6 October to 27 November 1951
Communist China Aggression 3 November 1950 to 24 January 1951	Second Korean Winter 28 November to 31 December 1951 24 February to 30 April 1952
Inchon Landing 15 to 17 September 1950	Korean Defense Summer-Fall 1952 1 May to 13 June 1952 5 October to 20 November 1952
First UN Counter Offensive 25 January to 21 April 1951	Third Korean Winter 9 December 1952 to 22 January 1953 9 February to 17 March 1953 4 to 30 April 1953
Communist China Spring Offensive 22 April to 19 May 1951	Korea Summer-Fall 1953 1 to 20 May 1953

Decommissioned, 30 December 1955

Laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet

Leased, 16 March 1960 to the People to People Health Foundation, renamed Hope

Struck from the Naval Register, 15 September 1974

Final Disposition, sold by Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service for scrapping, 1 September 1974 and scrapped in 1975

Consolation received 10 battle stars for Korean war service

Specifications:
Displacement 11,141t.(lt),15,000 t.(fl)
Length 520'
Beam 71' 6"
Draft 23' 6"
Speed 17.5 kts.
Complement 564
Patient Capacity 800
Armament none
Propulsion combination HP/LP 600 PSI steam turbine geared engine, single screw, shp 9.000

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Source
USS Consolation (AH-15)
	52k	Consolation (AH-15) moored pierside at Pusan, South Korea, 1951.	Jack Treutle
	74k	Consolation (AH-15) at anchor in Sok Cho-Ri, Korea, 15 December 1951. Sok Cho-Ri was on the east coast of Korea 50 miles below the North Korean border. The hospital ship markings consist of three red crosses connected with a stripe. US Navy photo # NH 98785 by LT. B. A. McLawhorn. from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.	Robert Hurst
	125k	Consolation (AH-15) sits at anchor as a Sikorski H-5 helicopter of the 3rd Air Rescue Squadron approaches the ship's newly-installed helicopter deck, circa December 1951. The helo was carrying litter patients on the last leg of an operation in which 37 wounded American and South Korean Marines were evacuated from an airstrip in north central Korea. US Navy photo # NH 98786, a US Air Force photo from the collections of the U.S. Naval Historical Center	US Naval Historical Center
	105k	Consolation (AH-15) off the Korean Coast, circa 21 December 1951, during the first air evacuation of casualties directly from the battlefield to a hospital ship. A US Air Force Sikorski H-5 helicopter is landing on board. US Navy photo # NH 85669, courtesy of Mrs. Joel T. Boone, 1977.	US Naval Historical Center
	105k	Consolation (AH-15) is present beyond the bow of HMS Belfast in the channel at Pusan, South Korea, 2 April 1952. US Navy photo # NH 99085 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.	Robert Hurst
	122k	Consolation (AH-15) underway in the channel, bound for Inchon, Korea, 8 May 1952. US Navy photo # K-12234, now in the collections of the US National Archives.	US Naval Historical Center
	46k	Consolation (AH-15) at anchor, date and place unknown.	US Navy Hospital Ships web site
	56k	Consolation (AH-15) underway, date and place unknown.	Hyperwar US Navy in WWII web site
	88k	Consolation (AH-15) at anchor in Inchon harbor, circa 1952. US Navy photo from the collection of CDR Nancy Crosby, NC, USN, Ret., "Navy Medicine" magazine March-April 2002.	Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
	105k	Consolation (AH-15) photographed from the Golden Gate Bridge, 30 March 1955, as she returned to San Francisco from her last deployment to the Western Pacific. The hospital ship markings consist of three red crosses without a connecting stripe. US Navy photo # NH 98787, by PH1 Timothy J. Leary, USN. from the collections of the U.S. Naval Historical Center	US Naval Historical Center
Project Hope (Charity Service)
	72k	ex-Consolation (AH-15) underway while in the service of Project Hope, date and location unknown.	William Toohey
	82k	ex-Consolation (AH-15) at Kingston, Jamaica, 15 February 1971 while in the service of Project Hope	© Richard Leonhardt
	80k	ex-Consolation (AH-15) at Kingston, Jamaica, 15 February 1971 while in the service of Project Hope	© Richard Leonhardt