USAHS Marigold

USAHS Marigold was a US Army hospital ship during WWII. Earlier in the war the vessel served as the troop carrier USAT President Fillmore. Built in 1920 for the United States Shipping Board as a civilian passenger/cargo liner, the ship changed ownership and operating companies several times before being acquired for military transport service in 1941.

Design and construction
In 1919 the US Shipping Board ordered seven 522-foot class vessels from New York Shipbuilding Corporation. The naming of this class of ships has some confusion because some sources use the overall length of 522 feet and designate them the 522 class while others use the length between perpendiculars of 502 feet and refer to them as the 502 class. Originally named Old North State, in honor of the state of North Carolina, the vessel accommodated 78 passengers, all first class. A contemporary report of her sea trials describes the vessel’s appointments:
 * ”No art of the interior decorator has been spared on this vessel. With its white mahogany finish, its soft-tinted artistic hangings, its open fireplaces and comfortable wicker furniture, the interior presents the aspect of a clubhouse rather than that of a ship…
 * “In all there are three decks given over to passenger accommodations, designated, respectively, as the promenade deck, bridge deck, and shelter deck, and the arrangement of the public rooms and staterooms provide every convenience and luxury that may be found in a first class hotel.
 * “All of the staterooms have beds instead of berths and many have private baths attached.  The boat deck, which is exceptionally wide and which gives an unobstructed view over the whole ship, is devoted entirely to the recreation of the passengers.  The promenade deck is equipped with balanced plate-glass windows giving it the appearance of a Pullman car and providing full protection for the passengers in rough or stormy weather.  On this deck too are some special staterooms while at the other end of this deck is the handsomely appointed smoking room, a feature of which is a large open fireplace.”
 * - Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger, October 19, 1920

United States Mail Steamship Company service
Old North State entered New York-London service under the operation of the United States Mail Steamship Company. Her service as an all-first class liner, was not to last one year. The shipping company suffered massive financial loss and by August 1921 the ships were returned to the US Shipping Board and a new shipping company was formed.

United States Lines service
In August 1921 the United States Lines was formed and became the new operator. In 1923 the ship was renamed President Van Buren and she now carried 103 all-cabin class passengers. Her regular route was New York – Plymouth – Cherbourg – London. On July 4, 1923 the huge SS Leviathan took up the New York – London service. President van Buren and three other ships became excess capacity and the following year they were sold.

Dollar Steamship Company service
In 1924 the Dollar Steamship Company was making a rapid expansion into the Pacific. Seven 522/502 ships, including President Van Buren were purchased and placed in Around the World Service. No renaming of the vessel was needed as all Dollar ships were named for US Presidents. The timetable for the President Liners boasted:
 * “…all cabins amidships, the pleasant and commodious state rooms having real twin beds (rather than berths), the abundance of accommodation with private tub and shower baths, the spacious public halls, and a cuisine attuned to these distinctive features.”

Embarking from New York the ships made calls at Havana, Colon, Balboa, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Honolulu, Kobe, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Manila, Singapore, Penang, Colombo, Suez, Port Said, Alexandria, Naples, Genoa, Marseilles, and Boston before returning to New York. By 1929 President Van Buren and 16 President Liner fleet mates operated in Around the World Service. That year however also marked the beginning of a steady decline for Dollar. The great depression was affecting cargo revenue and the company’s two largest ships were running at half capacity. In 1936 President van Buren was laid up in San Francisco. In 1937 the company reached its nadir when its crown jewel, the luxurious SS President Hoover, ran aground near Taiwan and had to be declared a total loss. In August 1938 the company’s operations were suspended and its control assumed by the United States Maritime Commission.

American President Lines service
On 1 November 1938 the company was renamed American President Lines. In 1940 President van Buren was taken out of layup and returned to service but as a freighter. She was now ‘’President Fillmore’’, a name previously held by a 1903-built ship. While the new President Fillmore resumed civilian cargo service, the older ship was sold and renamed SS Panamanian. The name switch may have been deliberate to cloud the role of the older vessel. This role was revealed by the personal recollection of a British merchant seaman whose ship, the SS Fellside, had been sunk by torpedo:
 * “..I was the last of twenty survivors to be picked up by the lifeboat... We sighted a ship about 8 p.m., the ship came to us and took us on board. On the rescue ship’s side in large letters was the name Panamainian, Panama.  We later found out its real name was [the old] SS President Fillmore.  The Americans were not in the war at the time so they used the name Panamanian to protect their neutrality.  The crew of the Panamanian told us about the cargo the ship was carrying, it had everything that was needed for a country at war.  We arrived in Liverpool on Saturday, July 20, 1940…” - Thomas Reed Sanderson

When the United State entered the war in December 1941 President Fillmore was requisitioned by the War Shipping Administration.

US Army Transport service
President Fillmore was assigned to the Army and converted to a military transport carrier. Modified with armaments she was now US Army Transport (USAT) President Fillmore.

Battle of Dutch Harbor
On June 3-4, 1942 President Fillmore was engaged in the Battle of Dutch Harbor, the site of a US Navy and Army base. On the morning of June 3rd, eight hours after arriving at Dutch Harbor the crew was awakened by shore side gunfire.
 * “Enemy planes were sited. Visibility was excellent, inasmuch as at the hour in the Land of the Midnight Sun we were favored with a clear Arctic Sky. "Tojo" came over in formations of three and four planes, totalling nineteen bombers and fighters, and generally followed the same tactics used that he used at Pearl Harbor; i.e., squadrons approaching from the south and west simultaneously, flying straight and level, crossing, turning and coming back from the north and east..” - Gus G. Stravos, C.O., Naval Armed Guard President Fillmore went to general quarters, and her 3inch guns brought down one Japanese bomber and damaged a second.

This would not be the first time that President Fillmore would escape serious damage:
 * “Some of the .25 cal. bullets used by the fighter plane landed on the deck, almost cutting in half ropes and cables suspended from the booms.  The ship, a survivor of five sustained attacks at Suez, is apparently "charmed," for a "dud" landed on the dock about 15 feet from the ship near the stern.  The "dud" broke in half and was kicked into the water by a sailor.“- Gus G. Stravos

On the afternoon of June 4th, a second attack was launched:
 * “Twenty-three Jap planes in formations of three, four and five appeared at 1750, coming from the south and west. They circled the mountains and attacked Dutch Harbor. The Japs used dive-bombing tactics against what seemed to be pre-determined targets.  They split up as if they knew exactly where they were going, picking such targets as the oil tanks, the 3" guns, the dock and "hotel ship," the Northwestern.  They bombed Dutch Harbor for about an hour.” - Gus G. Stravos

In the second attack President Fillmore shot down two fighter planes. Although strafed, she sustained no serious damage and there were no casualties aboard the ship.

President Fillmore would now serve the Pacific transporting troops and supplies from Oregon and Washington north to the Aleutians and south to Hawaii. (At that time Hawaii had a rapidly expanding Army base and a combat engineer training center.) She would later transport troops to the Philippines and to the Marshall Islands

By mid-1943 more new-built ships were becoming available for transport service. The Army however faced demands to evacuate patients from the Southwest Pacific and North Africa. Transports were subject to enemy attack while hospital ships plainly marked and operated under the terms of the Hague Convention were protected. The Army began to evaluate its fleet for ships for those that might be converted. Hospital ships required sufficient range and speed for transoceanic service. Patient wards should be above the waterline to allow for natural ventilation and near lifeboats for evacuation if needed. The hospital should be located slightly aft of mid-ship. Passageways needed to be wide enough for moving patients on litters. President Fillmore ticked all the required boxes. In October 1943 she was withdrawn from transport service and sent to the Seattle-Tacoma Shipyard. for conversion to a hospital ship.

US Army Hospital Ship service
The vessel emerged from her refit as the US Army Hospital Ship (USAHS) Marigold, 212th Hospital Ship Complement, with accommodation for 758 patients. On July 17, 1944 she sailed from Charleston bound for Italy. Her first service area was in the Mediterranean to care for wounded soldiers from the European front. She then was transferred to the Pacific: Manila, Milne Bay, Luzon Biak, Hollandia, and Leyte. In the summer of 1945 Marigold returned from the States to the Pacific. She was the first Allied ship to arrive in Japan and was present when the Japanese Instrument of Surrender was signed on board the battleship USS Missouri (BB-63). After the Japanese surrender, she spent three weeks caring for liberated prisoners of war. Australian, British, Canadian, Dutch, Greek, Chinese  and Japanese patients were cared for alongside American troops. Later, civilians would receive care in space that had previously been devoted to the military. Decommissioned on June 8, 1946 her name reverted to President Fillmore and she was first transferred to the reserve fleet at Suisun Bay, California. But after twenty six years of invaluable peace and wartime service her work was finished. She was scrapped on January 14, 1948.