The USS Benevolence
Location: Pacific Ocean
Surnames/tags: American_Hospital_Ship World_War_II USS_Navy
Biography
USS Benevolence (AH-13) was a United States Navy Hospital Ship built and launched in 1944. The construction of the ship took place in Chester, Pennsylvania. The Benevolence had a bed capacity of 802 and a complement of 564. The USS Benevolence left for the Pacific Theatre on 27 July 1945 to provide hospital services and casualty evacuation.
The ship began her operational career receiving battle casualties from the 3rd Fleet during campaigns against Japan. She anchored off Yokosuka, Japan, at the end of August to begin processing liberated Allied prisoners of war where she processed over 1500 prisoners of war.
The Benevolence remained in Japanese waters until November 1945 and then returned the wounded to San Francisco on 12 December 1945. She served as a casualty evacuation ship between Pearl Harbor and San Francisco from December until February 1946 undergoing overhaul until April 1946.
After World War II, she was sunk in a collision in heavy fog with the S. S. Mary Luckenbach on 25 August 1950. She sunk in 15 minutes off the coast of San Francisco. She was returning from sea trials when the accident took place. In July of 1951, the Defense Department announced the Benevolence to be unsalvagable. It was then dynamited to ensure no vessels were damaged from its wreckage.
Sources
- https://blog.fold3.com/the-uss-benevolence-brings-home-american-pows-from-japan/?xid=7037&utm_source=Internal&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=TMIH_September-2023
- https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/uss-benevolence-tokyo-bay
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Benevolence
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Crossroads
- United Press, "Wreckage of Ship Will Be Dynamited", The San Bernardino Daily Sun, San Bernardino, California, Wednesday 1 August 1951, Volume LVII, Number 287, page 9.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_American_Naval_Fighting_Ships
Original Ship's Company
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