USS Relief (1896)

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USS Relief (1896) — Short, easy-to-understand version

Overview
The ship that became USS Relief (1896) started life as a passenger steamer named John Englis. Built in Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1895–96 by the Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works, she later served as a hospital ship for the U.S. Army during the Spanish–American War and then for the U.S. Navy. She was eventually renamed Repose after a new Relief was built. Her long career included service in the Philippines and with the Great White Fleet before ending in merchant service, and she was ultimately sunk in 1942.

Construction and design
- Built for the Maine Steamship Company as John Englis (and a sister ship Horatio Hall).
- Built by Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works, Chester, Pennsylvania.
- Completed December 1896; yard number 288.
- Type: passenger liner, later converted to hospital ship.
- Size and power: about 3,168 gross tons, 314 feet long, 46 feet beam, 15 ft 10 in draft; triple-expansion steam engines; about 16 knots.
- Passenger accommodations were described as very fine, with dining saloons on the upper deck.

Service history
- 1896–1898: John Englis operated on the New York–Maine route with good patronage.
- 1898: Spanish–American War begins. The ship is purchased by the U.S. Army and renamed Relief to serve as a hospital ship. It was found to have limited coal capacity for long voyages and mainly operated in Philippine waters, based in Manila, where it treated sick and wounded (about 107 by 1900).
- 1902: Relief is transferred to the U.S. Navy on November 13.
- 1908: After debates about command, President Theodore Roosevelt supports placing a hospital ship with the Great White Fleet. Relief is commissioned at Mare Island Navy Yard on February 6, 1908.
- March 22, 1908: Relief departs San Francisco to join the fleet, carrying patients. It travels with the fleet across the Pacific, providing medical care for more than 14,000 officers and sailors.
- November 1908: Relief detaches at Olongapo, Philippines.
- 1908–1910: Relief is ordered to return to the U.S. West Coast but is damaged in a typhoon at Cavite on November 18–19. An official survey finds the ship unseaworthy, so it becomes a stationary floating hospital and dispensary. It remains in this role at Olongapo, Philippines, until decommissioning on June 10, 1910.
- 1918: The ship’s name is changed to Repose on April 11 to free the name Relief for a new hospital ship (the later USS Relief, AH-1) under construction.
- 1919–1942: Repose is sold on May 15, 1919 and enters mercantile service under the same name, later sailing under the names Hai Ning, Mindanao, and finally Lanao (in 1937 under Philippine registry). The vessel is bombed and sunk by Japanese aircraft at Cebu, Philippines, on January 2, 1942.

See also
- A different U.S. Navy hospital ship named USS Relief (AH-1) was built later and took the orig inal Relief name.

Fate
- After a long dual life as a passenger liner and hospital ship, the vessel ended her days as a merchant ship and was ultimately sunk in 1942 during World War II.