USS Repose (AH-16) was a in service with the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

, active from May 1945 to January 1950, from October 1950 to December 1954, and from October 1965 to May 1970. After another five years in reserve, she was sold for scrapping in 1975.

History

USS Repose (AH-16) was built as Marine Beaver a Type C4 class ship in 1943 by Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Chester, Pennsylvania

Chester, Pennsylvania

Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States, with a population of 33,972 at the 2010 census. Chester is situated on the Delaware River, between the cities of Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware.- History :...

. 11,141 tons. 520 x 71.6 x 24. 18.7 knots. She was launched

Ship naming and launching

The ceremonies involved in naming and launching naval ships are based in traditions thousands of years old.-Methods of launch:There are three principal methods of conveying a new ship from building site to water, only two of which are called "launching." The oldest, most familiar, and most widely...

 8 August 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Pauline P. McIntire; and acquired for conversion to a hospital ship

Hospital ship

A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating medical treatment facility or hospital; most are operated by the military forces of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or near war zones....

 by Bethelem Steel Co., shipbuilding Division, 56th Street Yard, Brooklyn, N.Y. Upon completion of her conversion to Navy use, she was commissioned

Ship commissioning

Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...

 26 May 1945, CAPT W. O. Britten in command.

With a bed capacity of 750 and a complement of 564, the Repose departed Norfolk on 8 July 1945 for the Pacific. Serving as a casualty transport from various ports in the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

, the Repose also served as a base hospital ship in Shanghai

Shanghai

Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

 and later Tsingtao, China supporting the occupational forces in Northern, China. Repose remained in Asian waters, with an occasional return trip to the states until July 1949. She was decommissioned

Ship decommissioning

To decommission a ship is to terminate her career in service in the armed forces of her nation. A somber occasion, it has little of the elaborate ceremony of ship commissioning, but carries significant tradition....

, in reserve, at San Francisco on 19 January 1950.

Repose was activated on 26 August 1950 and sailed for Pusan Korea, picking up the Navy crew in Yokosuka, Japan en route. Serving in Korea

Korea

Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

n waters and evacuating patients to Japanese ports as necessary, the Repose remained on station until early 1954 with a short repair period in San Francisco from February to March 1953 and the installation of a helicopter landing pad. She remained at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard until her transfer to the Naval Reserve Fleet on 27 September 1954; and she was decommissioned on 21 December 1954 at Hunters Point Naval Ship Yard.

After nearly 11 years in the Reserve at Suisun Bay, Repose was commissioned on 16 October 1965 for service in Vietnam. Arriving on 3 January 1966, she was permanently deployed to Southeast Asia and earned the nickname “Angel of the Orient.” Operating mainly in the I Corps area, she treated over 9,000 battle casualties and 24,000 inpatients while deployed. Notably, USS Repose was on station during the 1967 USS Forrestal fire

1967 USS Forrestal fire

The 1967 USS Forrestal fire was a devastating fire and series of chain-reaction explosions on 29 July 1967 that killed 134 sailors and injured 161 on the aircraft carrier , after an unusual electrical anomaly discharged a Zuni rocket on the flight deck...

 that killed 134 sailors and injured 161. Her medical staff also treated legendary marksman, Staff Sgt. Carlos Hathcock

Carlos Hathcock

Carlos Hathcock was a United States Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant sniper with a service record of 93 confirmed kills. Hathcock's record and the extraordinary details of the missions he undertook made him a legend in the Marine Corps...

, in September 1969 after he and seven other U.S. Marines suffered extensive burns from an anti-tank mine blast. The Repose departed Vietnam 14 March 1970 and was decommissioned in May 1970 and used as a hospital annex for Long Beach Naval Hospital. This proved uneconomical and she was sold for scrap in 1975.

Repose received nine battle stars for Korean War

Korean War

The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...

 service and nine for Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

service.