USS Comfort (AH-3)

USS Comfort at anchor, c. 1919.
History
Ward Line
Name	SS Havana
Namesake	Havana, Cuba
Owner	Ward Line
Builder	William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia
Yard number	340
Launched	October 1906
In service	1907
Out of service	23 May 1917[1]
United States
Name	USS Comfort
Acquired	17 December 1917
Commissioned	18 March 1918
Decommissioned	5 August 1921
Fate	Laid up; Sold to AGWI Line 1925
Ward Line
Name	SS Havana
Owner	Ward Line
Acquired	1927
In service	1928
Renamed	SS Yucatan, 1935
Renamed	SS Agwileon, 1940
Out of service	1941
United States
Name	USAT Agwileon
Acquired	April 1942
In service	April 1942
Refit	Atlantic Basin Iron Works, November 1942–April 1943
Refit	Atlantic Basin Iron Works, June–August 1943
Reclassified	hospital ship USAHS Shamrock, August 1943
Refit	Charleston Navy Yard, April–September 1945
Out of service	4 February 1946, NDRF, Suisun Bay
Fate	Sold for scrapping, February 1948
General characteristics
Displacement	10,102 long tons (10,264 t)
Length	429 ft 10 in (131.01 m)
Beam	50 ft 2 in (15.29 m)
Draft	26 ft (7.9 m)
Speed	18 kn (21 mph; 33 km/h)
Complement	318
Differences as USAT Agwileon:
Tonnage	6,678
Draft	23 ft 11 in (7.29 m)
Propulsion	2 × reciprocating steam engines
Speed	14 kn (16 mph; 26 km/h)
Range	4,900 nmi (5,600 mi; 9,100 km)
Capacity	Cargo: 146,360 cu ft (4,144 m3)
Troops	1,350
Differences as USAHS Shamrock:
Range	5,800 nmi (6,700 mi; 10,700 km)
Capacity	Patients: 602 patients Cargo: None
Armament	None

USS Comfort (AH-3) was a hospital ship for the United States Navy in World War I. She was the sister ship of USS Mercy (AH-4) but the two ships were not of a ship class. Comfort was known as SS Havana in passenger service for the Ward Line, and as USAT Havana in United States Army service before her Navy service. Her name was restored to Havana in 1927, and she was renamed SS Yucatán in 1935, and SS Agwileon in 1941. In World War II, she was known as USAT Agwileon and USAHS Shamrock in service for the United States Army.

Launched in 1906, SS Havana was a passenger steamer for the Ward Line on the New York–Havana route from 1907 to 1917. Before being purchased by the Navy, the ship briefly served as United States Army transport ship USAT Havana and was in the first U.S. convoy of ships to sail for France during World War I. In her Navy career, Comfort made three transatlantic voyages, bringing home over 1,100 men from European ports. Comfort was placed in reserve in September 1919, decommissioned in 1921, and sold in April 1925.

The former hospital ship was repurchased by the Ward Line in 1927, who refitted her and placed her back in service on the Havana route under her original name of Havana. In January 1935, Havana grounded on a reef north of The Bahamas and remained there for three months. After being refloated and repaired, she was placed back in service as SS Yucatán in June. In 1940 the ship was removed from passenger service to be converted into a freighter. After capsizing in port in 1941, the ship was again refloated and renamed SS Agwileon.

Under a bareboat charter by the United States Maritime Commission, Agwileon carried civilian technicians and advisors to Sierra Leone for the U.S. Army. In November 1942, the ship was taken over by the Army as USAT Agwileon and converted to a troopship, making one trip in that capacity. In June 1943, the ship was selected for conversion to an Army hospital ship, and was renamed USAHS Shamrock. Operating locally in the Mediterranean for most of her career, the ship had transported almost 18,000 patients by September 1944. The ship was converted for use in the Pacific Theatre, but not before the war ended. The ship was placed in reserve in February 1946, and was scrapped in February 1948.