USS Mercy (AH-4)

For other ships with the same name, see USS Mercy.
USS Mercy (AH-4)
USS Mercy (AH-4) in port
History
Ward Line house flagWard Line
NameSS Saratoga
OwnerWard Line
Builder
LaunchedMarch 1907
In servicebefore October 1907[1]
FateRequisitioned by War Department, 23 May 1917
Out of service2 June 1917[2]
History
United States Army
NameUSAT Saratoga
In service2 June 1917
Out of service27 September 1917
FateSold to U.S. Navy
United States Navy
NameUSS Mercy
Acquired27 September 1917
RenamedMercy, 30 October 1917
Commissioned24 January 1918
Decommissioned23 March 1934
Stricken20 April 1938
FateSold for scrap, 16 March 1939
General characteristics
Displacement9,450 tons
Length429 ft 10 in (131.01 m)
Beam50 ft 2 in (15.29 m)
Draft23 ft 4 in (7.11 m)
Speed15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Capacity221 patients
Complement420
ArmamentNone

USS Mercy (ID-1305/AH-4) was a hospital ship in the United States Navy during World War I. She was the first U.S. Navy ship of that name. The ship was previously known as SS Saratoga, a steamer for the Ward Line on the New York to Havana route, and considered the fastest steamship in coastal trade.[3] Before being purchased by the Navy, the ship was briefly employed as United States Army transport ship USAT Saratoga, a career that ended after a collision off Staten Island, New York.[3]

In her Navy career, Mercy made four transatlantic round trips to France, bringing home almost 2,000 wounded men. After the end of World War I, the ship was based in Philadelphia, and briefly laid up there in 1924. The ship was decommissioned in 1934 and lent to the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, struck in 1938, and scrapped in 1939.

  1. ^ "Schooner rams a liner" (pdf). The New York Times. 31 October 1907. p. 6. Retrieved 24 January 2008.
  2. ^ Crowell and Wilson, p. 316.
  3. ^ a b "Ship collision due to mistaken signal" (PDF). The New York Times. 31 July 1917. p. 1. Retrieved 23 January 2008.