BENEVOLENCE AH 13

Ship Name and Designation History

This section lists the names and designations that the ship had during its lifetime. The list is in chronological order.

Haven Class Hospital Ship Keel Laid 26 July 1943 as "SS MARINE LION" - Launched 10 July 1944 Acquired US Navy 31 July 1944 and converted to Hospital Ship (AH) USS BENEVOLENCE AH-13 Commissioned 12 May 1945 - Decommissioned 13 September 1947 Laid up in Pacific Reserve Fleet, Mare Island, Vallejo, CA. USNS BENEVOLENCE T-AH-13 Withdrawn from Reserve Fleet 1950 and assigned to Military Sea Transportation Service Sunk by collision with "SS MARY LUCKENBACH", 25 August 1950, off San Francisco's Golden Gate while on sea trials prior to being placed in service with MSTS 23 of the crew were lost and remain on duty.

Naval Covers

This section lists active links to the pages displaying covers associated with the ship. There should be a separate set of pages for each name of the ship (for example, Bushnell AG-32 / Sumner AGS-5 are different names for the same ship so there should be one set of pages for Bushnell and one set for Sumner). Covers should be presented in chronological order (or as best as can be determined).

Since a ship may have many covers, they may be split among many pages so it doesn't take forever for the pages to load. Each page link should be accompanied by a date range for covers on that page.

1. USS Benevolence AH-13 Covers Page 1     (Date)

 

Postmarks

This section lists examples of the postmarks used by the ship. There should be a separate set of postmarks for each name and/or commissioning period. Within each set, the postmarks should be listed in order of their classification type. If more than one postmark has the same classification, then they should be further sorted by date of earliest known usage.

A postmark should not be included unless accompanied by a close-up image and/or an image of a cover showing that postmark. Date ranges MUST be based ONLY ON COVERS IN THE MUSEUM and are expected to change as more covers are added.
 
>>> If you have a better example for any of the postmarks, please feel free to replace the existing example.

 

Postmark Type --- Killer Bar Text	Postmark Date	Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

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USS Benevolence AH-13

 

Locy Type 2# (Br. #15782)

1946-01-22

Note:

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USS Benevolence APH-113

 

Locy Type 2# (Br. #15782)

1946-01-22

From the Ronald Greenwood collection.
Although there is no "official" record of the USS Benevolence being temporarily reclassified "Evacuation Transport (APH)", here is a cover with that designation. Research is ongoing. Greg C. Jan. 2021.

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USS Benevolence AH-13

 

Locy Type 2# (Br. #15782)

1946-04-25

Atomic Bomb Test cachet. "Operation Crossroads", assigned to Joint Task Force 1, Task Unit 1.8. (Service Group - Medical Unit)

 

Other Information

USS BENEVOLENCE earned the China Service Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal w/ 1 Battle star, the World War II Victory Medal and the Navy Occupation Service Medal w/ Asia clasp during her Naval career.

USS BENEVOLENCE AH-13 was at Tokyo Bay September 2 1945 for the Japanese surrender ceremony

NAMESAKE - A name in keeping with the mission of hospital ships.

The ships sponsor was Mrs. Daisy Hunter.

 

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