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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive


Contributed by Don Mc Grogan

USS Solace (I) (AH-2)
ex
USS Solace (I) (1898 - 1920)

International Radio Call Sign, 1912:
Nan - Sail - Tare
NST
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row- Spanish Campaign Medal - Philippines Campaign Medal - China Relief Expedition Medal
Bottom Row - Mexican Service Medal - Dominican Campaign Medal - World War I Victory Medal


Solace Class Hospital Ship:
  • Laid down in 1896 as SS Creole at Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Newport News, VA.
  • Acquired by the US Navy from her owners, Cromwell Steamship Lines, 7 April 1898
  • Commissioned USS Solace, 14 April 1898, CDR. A. Dunlap in command
  • Decommissioned, 12 October 1905 at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, CA.
  • Recommissioned, 3 June 1908
  • Decommissioned, 14 April 1909, at Charleston Navy Yard, Charleston, S.C.
  • Recommissioned, 20 November 1909
  • Designated Hospital Ship (AH-2), 17 July 1920
  • Decommissioned, 20 July 1921, at Philadelphia Navy Yard, Philadelphia, PA.
  • Laid up in reserve at, Philadelphia, PA.
  • Struck from the Naval Register 6 August 1930
  • Final Disposition, sold for scrapping to Boston Metals Co., Baltimore, MD., 6 November 1930
    Specifications:
    Displacement 3,801 t.(lt) 4,700 t.(fl)
    Length 377'
    Beam 44'
    Draft 17' 1½"
    Speed 16 kts.
    Complement
    Officers - 12
    Enlisted - 110
    Armament none
    Bunker Capacity 800 t. Coal
    Propulsion
    one vertical triple expansion steam engine
    single propeller, 3,200shp

    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image
    Size Image Description Source
    Solace
    09120240
    123k USS Solace Apothecaries and Nurses, 1 January 1898.
    Library of Congress Control # 2016795154 Edward H. Hart - Detroit Publishing Co.
    John Spivey/font>
    Solace
    09120241
    67k USS Solace Executive Officer and Navigator, circa 1898.
    Library of Congress Control s # 2016795237 Executive Officer and 2016804197 Navigator Edward H. Hart - Detroit Publishing Co.
    John Spivey
    Ajax 83k USS Scindia and USS Solace [with white hull,] at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, CA., circa 1899. USS Ranger is moored in mid-channel, at the far left.
    US Navy photo # NH 71719 from the collections of the US Naval History and Heritage Command, courtesy San Francisco Maritime Museum, San Francisco, CA.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Solace 337k USS Solace in Mare Island Navy Yard's dry dock #1 with the USS Hartford at a berth to the right. Solace was in dry dock from June 8 to 12 1899.
    File name: June 1899 Solace AH2 (DD1) Hartford IX 13.
    Darryl Baker
    Solace 335k USS Solace at the coaling berth, Mare Island Navy Yard, 1 July 1899. Darryl Baker
    Solace 1093k USS Solace moored in the Mare Island Channel, 1 July 1899. Darryl Baker
    Solace 84k USS Solace off Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, CA., 1 July 1899.
    US Navy photo # NH 43624, from the collections of the US Naval History and Heritage Command, courtesy Rear Admiral Ammen Farenholt, USN(MC) collection.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Solace 260k USS Solace (left) and USS Manila (right) moored pierside at Mare Island Navy Yard in September 1899.
    File name: MINSY Sep 1899 03 Solace AH 2 Manila.
    Darryl Baker
    Solace   San Francisco Call 26 February 1901, article, USS Solace Commanding Officer refuses to allow Quarantine or Customs Inspectors to board his ship. Michael Mohl
    Solace 159k USS Solace off Mare Island Navy Yard while operating as a transport, circa 1903.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command. Photo # NH 76119, courtesy Shipscribe.com.
    Mike Green
    Solace 98k USS Solace at Naval Station Honolulu, T.H. with USS Bennington (Gunboat # 4), in the foreground, circa 1904. Probably photographed from on board USS New York (Armored Cruiser # 2).
    US Navy photo # NH 102744 from the collections of the US Naval History and Heritage Command, collection of Martin Fenne.
    Robert Hurst
    Solace
    09120239
    374k USS Solace underway, circa 1910s.
    U.S. Navy "All Hands" magazine April 1967, p. 24.
    Robert Hurstr
    Solace 104k USS Solace moored pierside, date and location unknown. The photo bears the date "June 6" at the bottom.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command, Photo No. NH 43626, courtesy Shipscribe.com.
    Mike Green
    Solace 27k USS Solace underway, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo
    Naval Hospital Corps School Web Site
    Solace 146k Model of USS Solace at Boston Navy Yard, date unknown. Tommy Trampp
    Solace 50k USS Solace underway, date and location unknown.  
    Solace 126k USS Solace underway, date and location unknown. Library of Congress photo # 4a14730v, Detroit Photographic Co. collection
    Solace USS Solace at anchor, date and location unknown. A post card was produced from this photo.
    US Navy photo.
    Jim Kurrasch
    Battleship Iowa Pacific Battleship Center
    Arnold A. Putnam and Tommy Trampp
    Solace 281k
    Solace 112k USS Solace at anchor in Hampton Roads, VA., 10 December 1916.
    Library of Congress photo # LC-DIG-npcc-32725
    Mike Green
    Solace 243k Navy Hospital corpsman attending to a patient aboard USS Solace during World War I. Bill Gonyo
    Solace 141k Caskets of United States soldiers being brought home by USS Solace from Europe, circa 1918.
    Library of Congress photo # LC-H261- 4647-A
    Mike Green
    Solace 93k USS Solace showing the style of hospital ship markings used during World War I. This photo probably shows the ship circa 1918-1919.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command., Photo No. Unknown (in NR&L file), courtesy Shipscribe.com.
    Mike Green
    Solace 86k USS Solace at anchor, circa 1919, location unknown. Robert Hurst
    Solace 88k USS Solace at anchor in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, 6 April 1919. At left is USS Savannah (ID# 3015) with submarines alongside.
    US Navy photo # NH 79532 from the collections of the US Naval History and Heritage Command. Courtesy of the St. Louis Memorial Museum, St. Louis, Missouri, 1974.
    Robert Hurst
    Solace 148k Lifting a patient aboard USS Solace from one of the ships small boats, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo.
    Ric Hedman
    Solace 84k The main hospital ward aboard USS Solace. It could hold up to 68 patients and the surgical ward could hold up to 76. There were 3 isolation wards on the aft deck.
    US Navy photo.
    Ric Hedman
    Solace 100k USS Solace ships laboratory. The latest in medical and sanitary technology was used aboard.
    US Navy photo.
    Ric Hedman
    Solace 119k USS Solace dispensary and medical storeroom. The ship also had a diet kitchen with all electrical appliances and on board ice making plant.
    US Navy photo.
    Ric Hedman
    Solace 109k USS Solace operating theater that handled the dental, eye, ear and throat issues.
    US Navy photo.
    Ric Hedman
    Solace 136k USS Solace pilothouse, date unknown. Library of Congress photo #4a14732v, the Detroit Photographic Co. collection
    Solace 123k USS Solace steering gear, date unknown. Library of Congress photo #4a14733v, the Detroit Photographic Co. collection
    Solace 202k USS Solace Captain's cabin, date unknown. Library of Congress photo #4a14734v, the Detroit Photographic Co. collection
    Solace 151k USS Solace main salon, date unknown. Library of Congress photo #4a14735v, the Detroit Photographic Co. collection
    Solace 129k USS Solace hospital ward, date unknown. Library of Congress photo #4a14736v, the Detroit Photographic Co. collection
    Solace 148k USS Solace wardroom, date unknown. Library of Congress photo #4a14740v, the Detroit Photographic Co. collection
    Solace 142k USS Solace Officers, date unknown. Library of Congress photo #4a14743v, the Detroit Photographic Co. collection
    Solace 131k USS Solace in Gatun Lock, Panama Canal, early 1921. The Solace was decommissioned in July, 1921.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command, Photo No. NH 93431. Courtesy of CAPT. C.W. Stoll, received from C.H. Bogart, 1972
    Mike Green
    Solace 117k USS Solace at anchor. This style of hospital ship markings was used soon after World War I. This photo may show the ship soon before her final decommissioning in 1921. A post card of this image photo was also created.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command. Photo No. Unknown (in NR&L file)
    Mike Green and Tommy Trampp
    Solace 90k
    R-26 216k USS Solace (AH-2) (white hull) is among the laid up ships in the background in the upper right of this photo of USS R-26 (SS-103) getting ready to submerge at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, September 22, 1923.
    US Navy photo # 19-N-10578 a US Navy Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives
    Daniel Dunham

    USS Solace (I) (AH-2)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officers
    01CDR. Dunlap, Andrew14 April 1898 - ?
    02CAPT. Winslow, Herbert24 April 1900 - ?
    03CDR. Singer, Frederic20 May 1902 - ?
    04CDR. Bull, James Henry20 April 1904 - 12 October 1905
     Decommissioned12 October 1905 - 3 June 1908
    05MEDINSP. Ellicott, John Morris3 June 1908 - 14 April 1909
     Decommissioned14 April 1909 - 20 November 1909
    06MEDINSP. Von Wedekind, Luther Lochman20 November 1909 - ?
    07MEDINSP. Gates, Manley Fitch25 October 1911 - ?
    08MEDINSP. Kennedy, Robert Morris20 January 1915 - ?
    09CAPT. (MC) Blackwood, Norman Jerome, USN7 September 1916 - ?
    10CDR. Plummer, Ralph Walter15 August 1919 - ?
    11CDR. Webb Ulys Robert16 May 1920 - 20 June 1921
    12CDR. Plummer, Ralph Walter20 June 1921 - 20 July 1921
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves

    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Spanish American War Centennial Web Site - Hospital Ship Solace
    Back To The Navsource Photo Archives Main Page Back To The Service Force Ship Type Index Back To The Hospital Ship (AH) Photo Index
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 6 December 2024