USS Repose (AH-16)

The USS Repose (AH-16) was built as Marine Beaver, a type C4 class ship, in 1943 by Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Chester, Pennsylvania. She displaced 11,141 tons and had dimensions of 520 × 71.6 × 24 ft and a maximum speed of 18.7 knots. Launched on August 8, 1944, she was sponsored by Mrs. Pauline P. McIntire, and was acquired for conversion to a hospital ship by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, in Brooklyn, New York. Upon completion of her conversion to navy use, she was commissioned on May 26, 1945.

With a bed capacity of 750 and a complement of 564, the Repose departed Norfolk on July 8, 1945 for the Pacific. Serving as a casualty transport from various ports in the Pacific Ocean, the Repose also served as a base hospital ship in Shanghai and later Qingdao, China, supporting the occupation forces in northern China. The Repose remained in Asian waters, with an occasional return trip to the States until July 1949. She was decommissioned, in reserve, at San Francisco January 19, 1950.

The Repose was activated on August 26, 1950 and sailed for Pusan, Korea, picking up the navy crew in Yokosuka, Japan en route. Serving in Korean 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 September 27, 1954; she was decommissioned on December 21, 1954 at Hunters Point Naval Ship Yard.

After nearly eleven years in reserve at Suisun Bay, the Repose was recommissioned on October 16, 1965 for service in Vietnam. Arriving on January 3, 1966, she was permanently deployed to Southeast Asia and earned the nickname "Angel of the Orient." Operating mainly in the I Corps area, she served as the medical care site for more than 9,000 battle casualties and 24,000 inpatients while deployed.

Notably, the USS Repose was on station during the 1967 USS Forrestal fire that killed 134 sailors and injured 161. Her medical staff also treated marksman Staff Sergeant Carlos Hathcock in September 1969 after he and seven other U.S. Marines suffered extensive burns from an anti-tank mine blast. The Repose departed Vietnam on March 14, 1970 and was decommissioned in May 1970 and used as a hospital annex for the Long Beach Naval Hospital. When this proved uneconomical, she was sold for scrap in 1975.

• Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
• World War II Victory Medal
• China Service Medal
• National Defense Service Medal with star
• Korean Service Medal with nine battle stars
• Vietnam Service Medal with nine campaign stars
• United Nations Service Medal
• Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal

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  The 52-bed ward
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  USS Repose on station during the 1967 USS Forrestal fire

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• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.