USS COMFORT (AH-6)

ttps://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/c/comfort-ii.html Comfort II (AH-6) 1944–1946 Comfort was given a name in keeping with the mission of hospital ships. (AH-6: displacement 6,000; length 417'9"; beam 60'; draft 27'8"; speed 14 knots; complement 233; class Comfort; type C-1B) The second Comfort (AH-6) was launched on 18 March 1943 at Wilmington, Calif., by Consolidated Steel Corp., Ltd., under a Maritime Commission contract (M.C. Hull 1021); sponsored by First Lieutenant E. Hatchitt, USAMC; transferred to the Navy the same day; converted to a hospital ship by Bethlehem Steel Co., San Pedro, Calif.; and commissioned on 5 May 1944, Cmdr. Harold F. Fultz in command. Comfort operated throughout World War II with a Navy crew and Army medical people. She sailed from San Pedro, on 21 June 1944 for Brisbane, Australia, and Hollandia, New Guinea. Operating from Hollandia the hospital ship evacuated wounded from Leyte, Philippine Islands, on two voyages in October and November 1944 and then brought patients back to San Pedro, Calif., in December. Returning by way of Leyte, Comfort reached Hollandia on 6 February 1945. Following a voyage to Subic Bay and Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, for evacuees in March, the hospital ship stood by off Okinawa from 2 to 9 April, receiving wounded for evacuation to Guam. Returning to Okinawa on 23 April, she was crashed by a Japanese suicide plane on the 28th that killed 28 persons (including six nurses), and wounded 48 others, and caused considerable damage. After temporary repairs at Guam Comfort sailed for Los Angeles, Calif., arriving on 28 May.