USS Hope (AH-7)

USS Hope (AH-7) was a Comfort-class hospital ship launched under Maritime Commission contract by Consolidated Steel Corporation, Wilmington, California, 30 August 1943; sponsored by Miss Martha L. Floyd; acquired by the Navy the same day for conversion to a hospital ship by U.S. Naval Dry Dock, Terminal Island, Calif.; and commissioned 15 August 1944. Hope was one of three hospital ships, the others being USS Comfort (AH-6) and USS Mercy (AH-8), built, commanded and crewed by the Navy for the Army. These ships, unlike the Navy hospital ships, were intended for evacuation and transport of patients after primary care had been given. Medical equipment and personnel were provided by the Army. The Army medical complement table of organization provided for the temporary reinforcement of the staff if the ship directly supported amphibious operations. Hope completed her shakedown cruise and sailed 23 September 1944 to render medical care during the climactic phase of the campaign against Japan. Steaming via Pearl Harbor and Manus, the ship arrived Kossol Passage, in the Palaus, and received soldiers wounded taking the islands of the group. American soldiers, supported by a vast naval task force, returned to the Philippines 20 October. Hope arrived Leyte Gulf 7 November, to care for casualties and evacuated them to Hollandia. Thereafter the ship made four more voyages to Leyte to evacua

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