USS Mercy (AH-4)
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| Missing image USS_Mercy_AH-4.jpg The USS Mercy (AH-4) | |
| Career | 
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|---|---|
| Built: | 1907 |
| Purchased: | 27 September 1917 |
| Previous Name: | Saratoga |
| Renamed: | Mercy, 30 October 1917 |
| Commissioned: | 24 January 1918 |
| Decommissioned: | 23 March 1934 |
| Fate: | Sold for scrap, 16 March 1939 |
| Struck: | 20 April 1938 |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 9450 tons |
| Length: | 429 ft 10 in |
| Beam: | 50 ft 2 in |
| Draught: | 23 ft 4 in |
| Propulsion: | |
| Speed: | 15 knots |
| Range: | |
| Complement: | 420 |
| Patient capacity: | 221 |
The first USS Mercy (AH-4) was a hospital ship in the United States Navy during World War I.
Mercy was built in 1907 as Saratoga by William Cramp and Sons, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for the Ward Line, New York, New York. After use as a Army troop transport during the first nine months of World War I, she was purchased by the Navy from the US War Department on 27 September 1917. On 30 October 1917, she began conversion to a hospital ship at the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York, and was commissioned USS Mercy on 24 January 1918.
Assigned to the Atlantic Fleet, Mercy operated in the Chesapeake Bay area with Yorktown, Virginia, as her home port, attending the war wounded and transporting them from ships to shore hospitals. In October 1918 she sailed for New York to join the Cruiser and Transport Service. On 3 November the hospital ship departed New York on the first of four round trips to France, returning 1,977 casualties by 25 March 1919.
For most of the next 15 years following World War I, Mercy served off the east coast with Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as her home yard. From 1 December 1924, until 1 September 1925, she was in reserve at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. On 25 November the hospital ship went into reduced commission, returning to full commission 1 September 1926. Mercy remained in commission until loaned to the Philadelphia branch of the US Public Relief Administration 23 March 1934.
On 20 April 1938, Mercy was struck from the Naval Vessel Register and she was sold for scrapping to Boston Iron & Metals Company, Baltimore, Maryland, 16 March 1939.
See USS Mercy for other ships of this name.
This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.