USS Comfort, a 10,102-ton (displacement) hospital ship, was built at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1906 as the civilian passenger steamship Havana. She was acquired by the Navy in July 1917, converted at Brooklyn, New York, and renamed Comfort in mid-March 1918, four days prior to being placed in commission. After spending much of the remainder of World War I as a floating hospital at New York, in October 1918 she began the first of three voyages to bring wounded servicemen home from Europe.

In June 1919 Comfort went to the Pacific and in September of that year was placed "in ordinary" at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California. Formally decommissioned in August 1921, she was sold at the beginning of April 1925. Following reconstruction in 1927-1928 she returned to commercial employment, initially as S.S. Havana and later as S.S. Yucatan and S.S. Agwileon. In 1942-1946 she was the U.S. Army Transport Agwileon and the Army Hospital Ship Shamrock and was sold for scrapping in 1948.

Comfort (1918-1925, later AH-3).

Additional images S.S. Havana (American Passenger Ship, 1906)and USAT Agwileon (Army Transport, 1942-1943). Later Army Hospital Ship Shamrock (1943-1946).

Click photograph for a larger image

Photo #: NH 61539 USS Comfort (hospital ship, later AH-3) At anchor, circa 1919. NHHC Collection Online Image: 79KB; 740 x 600
Photo #: NH 77286 USS Comfort (hospital ship, later AH-3) At anchor in New York Harbor, circa 1919. Courtesy of Mrs. C.R. DeSpain, 1973. From the scrapbooks of Fred M. Butler. NHHC Collection Online Image: 50KB; 740 x 510
Photo #: NH 93860 USS Comfort (hospital ship, later AH-3) In port, during the World War I era. Courtesy of Paul H. Silverstone, 1982. NHHC Collection Online Image: 63KB; 740 x 425
Photo #: NH 67704 USS Comfort (hospital ship, later AH-3) In dry dock at the New York Navy Yard, circa 1919. Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Library, Treasure Island, California, 1969. NHHC Collection Online Image: 44KB; 740 x 525
Photo #: NH 67708 USS Comfort (hospital ship, later AH-3) Crewmen assembled during "General Quarters", circa 1918. Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Library, Treasure Island, California, 1969. NHHC Collection Online Image: 100KB; 740 x 570
Photo #: NH 67709 USS Comfort (hospital ship, later AH-3) Wounded soldiers on board, during their passage home from France after the end of World War I, 1 December 1918. Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Library, Treasure Island, California, 1969. NHHC Collection Online Image: 78KB; 740 x 530
Photo #: NH 67706 USS Comfort (hospital ship, later AH-3) Wounded, and seasick, soldier on the ship's deck, during passage home from France, circa late 1918. Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Library, Treasure Island, California, 1969. NHHC Collection Online Image: 63KB; 550 x 765
Photo #: NH 67707 USS Comfort (hospital ship, later AH-3) Unloading wounded soldiers in a U.S. port upon returning from France, December 1918. Note ambulances and railroad car. Camouflage pattern indicates that the ship partially visible in the background is USS Colhoun (Destroyer # 85). Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Library, Treasure Island, California, 1969. NHHC Collection Online Image: 100KB; 740 x 565
Photo #: NH 67705 USS Comfort (hospital ship, later AH-3) Navy pilot leaving the ship, circa 1918. Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Library, Treasure Island, California, 1969. NHHC Collection Online Image: 90KB; 550 x 765
Photo #: NH 67710 USS Comfort (hospital ship, later AH-3) Taking on coal from a small craft, in an Azores port, 11 January 1919. Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Library, Treasure Island, California, 1969. NHHC Collection Online Image: 80KB; 570 x 765
Photo #: NH 76558 "Victory Over Sea{s} Fleet in New York Harbor April 1919" Panoramic photograph by The Pictorial News Service, 225 W. 36th St., New York City, showing Atlantic Fleet battleships and other vessels anchored in the Hudson River. Ships present, as identified on the original print, are listed on Photo # NH 76558 (complete caption). Collection of Colonel J. Willcox, USMC (Retired). NHHC Collection Online Image: 133KB; 2000 x 390
Photo #: NH 45744 U.S. Army Transport Mount Vernon Moored outboard of the Navy hospital ship Comfort, at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 2 January 1920. Note the drydock in the foreground. NHHC Collection Online Image: 110KB; 740 x 600
Photo #: NH 71246 U.S. Army Transport Mount Vernon Moored outboard of the Navy hospital ship Comfort, at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, in January 1920. Photograph from the William H. Topley Collection; courtesy of Charles M. Loring, 1970. NHHC Collection Online Image: 129KB; 740 x 575

For higher resolution images see: Obtaining Photographic Reproductions