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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USS Repose
ex
 USS Relief (1902 - 1918)
 USAHS Relief (1898 - 1902)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

World War I Victory Medal
Hospital Ship:
  • Built in 1895-96 as the steel passenger liner SS John Englis by the Delaware River Ship Building Co., Chester, PA.
  • Acquired by the US Army in 1898 for Spanish-American War service as a hospital ship, commissioned USAHS Relief
  • Transferred to US Navy, 13 November 1902
  • Laid up at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, CA.
  • Commissioned USS Relief, 6 February 1908, at Mare Island Navy Yard, Surg. Charles F. Stokes, USN, in command
    Dr. Charles F. Stokes commanded the United States Naval Hospital at San Juan, Puerto Rico from 1906 to 1908, however, he was recalled by the Navy Department to command the United States Hospital Ship USS Relief for service with the Atlantic Fleet during the around-the-world cruise in 1908. He was the first medical officer to command a hospital ship.
  • Decommissioned, 10 June 1910, at Olongapo, P.I. and placed in service as a stationary hospital ship
  • Renamed USS Repose, 11 April 1918
  • Final Disposition, sold 15 May 1919, at Olongapo for merchant service as SS Repose. She subsequently served under foreign flags as SS Hai Ning and SS Mindanao until transferred to Philippine registry in 1937 and renamed SS Lanao
  • Her fate during World War II is unknown
    Specifications:
    Displacement 3,300 t.
    Length 314'
    Beam 46"
    Draft 15"
    Speed 15 kts
    Complement 74
    Armament none
    Propulsion steam turbine
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    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Source
    USAHS Relief
    Relief 129k USAHS Relief moored pierside, at the time of the Spanish-American War, 1898, location unknown.
    US Navy photo # NH 92845 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Relief 162k USAHS Relief at anchor off Cuba in 1898 while serving as a hospital ship during the Spanish-American War. Small boats such as those pictured carried wounded and sick men from the shore to Relief.
    Photo Scanned from Page 41 of the August 2010 (or "Early Summer" 2010) issue of Military Heritage magazine, ISSN 1524-8666. Photo unattributed; probably a US Army photo.    		 Robert Hurst
    Relief 110k USAHS Relief nurses while the ship was serving in Cuban waters, 1898.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo.    		 Bill Gonyo
    Relief 82k USAHS Relief in San Francisco Bay, CA., with 300 wounded soldiers from Manila on board, 2 August 1899. The tug Fearless, of San Francisco, is alongside her starboard quarter.
    US Navy photo # NH 44061 courtesy Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, KS.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    USS Relief
    Charleston 168k USS Relief is in the stream beyond USS Charleston (C-22) at her berth at Mare Island in December 1906. The ship moored forward of USS Charleston is the ex-Auxiliary Cruiser USS Badger renamed Lawton. Darryl Baker
    Relief 123k USS Relief underway, circa 1908, location unknown.
    US Navy photo #: NH 50040, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Relief 169k Dr. Gray making x-ray photos on hospital ship USS Relief. Probably early 20th century.
    Photo courtesy of the Otis Historical Archives National Museum of Health and Medicine    		 Bill Gonyo
    Relief 61k USS Relief at anchor in Sydney Harbor, Australia, circa early 1900s.
    Photo from "U.S. Warships of World War One", courtesy Paul H. Silverstone.    		 Robert Hurst
    Relief 120k USS Relief anchored off Olongapo Naval Station, Philippine Islands, while serving as stationary hospital ship, circa 1909-1919.
    US Navy photo # NH 71580, courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1970.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    USS Relief / Repose
    DANFS history entry located at the US Naval History and Heritage Command
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 24 February 2012