Built in 1918, the SS ''Santa Teresa'' was originally a passenger liner. In World War I she was requisitioned by the U.S. Navy and served under the title USS ''Santa Teresa'' (ID 3804). She served as a commercial vessel between the wars, first under her original name, and later as the SS ''Kent''. During World War II she served first with the U.S. Army as the USAT ''Ernest Hinds'', named for Major General

Ernest Hinds Ernest Hinds (August 18, 1864 - June 17, 1941) was a career officer in the United States Army. A veteran of the Spanish–American War, Philippine–American War, and World War I, he attained the rank of major general and was notable for his ...

. She was later part of the Navy as USS ''Kent'' (AP-28). She spent the final part of the war as an Army hospital ship, once more under the name USAT (or USAHS) ''Ernest Hinds''.

Operational history

''Santa Teresa'', an 8890-ton transport, was built in 1918 at Philadelphia, as a civilian passenger liner. Taken over by the Navy for World War I use, she was commissioned in mid-November 1918 as USS ''Santa Teresa'' (ID 3804), a week after the Armistice ended the fighting. Between December 1918 and September 1919 ''Santa Teresa'' made seven round-trip voyages between the United States and France, primarily bringing home war veterans. The ship was decommissioned in October 1919 and turned over to the

U.S. Shipping Board The United States Shipping Board (USSB) was established as an emergency agency by the 1916 Shipping Act (39 Stat. 729), on September 7, 1916. The United States Shipping Board's task was to increase the number of US ships supporting the World War ...

for return to her owners. During the next two decades she operated commercially as SS ''Santa Teresa'' and, after 1936, as SS ''Kent''.

World War II

In April 1941 the U.S. Army purchased the ''Kent''. Renamed ''Ernest Hinds'', she was converted to a troopship at Boston, and took part in maneuvers off Cape Cod before being transferred to the Navy in July 1941. After serving as USS ''Kent'' (AP-28) for eight months, she was returned to the Army in March 1942 and again became USAT ''Ernest Hinds''. During May 1942 - September 1943 ''Ernest Hinds'' operated as a transport, making a trip to Alaska in mid-1942 and thereafter carrying personnel and cargo between the U.S., Hawaii, and the

South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

and within the latter region. The ship was converted to a hospital ship at San Francisco, California, between September 1943 and June 1944. She then steamed through the Panama Canal to begin service between the U.S. East Coast and the Mediterranean Sea. ''Ernest Hindss hospital ship service ended in September 1945 and she was again altered to a transport. She carried Jamaican laborers between Florida and Jamaica on behalf of the War Shipping Administration until turned over to the U.S. Public Health Service in April 1946 for use as a floating isolation ward at Jacksonville, Florida. She was transferred to the Maritime Administration in April 1947 and laid up at

Brunswick, Georgia Brunswick () is a city in and the county seat of Glynn County in the U.S. state of Georgia. As the primary urban and economic center of the lower southeast portion of Georgia, it is the second-largest urban area on the Georgia coastline after Sa ...

. Moved to the

James River The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesapea ...

, Virginia,

Reserve Fleet A reserve fleet is a collection of naval vessels of all types that are fully equipped for service but are not currently needed; they are partially or fully decommissioned. A reserve fleet is informally said to be "in mothballs" or "mothballed"; a ...

in April 1948, the nearly forty-year-old ship was sold for scrapping in May 1957.

References

External links

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Photo gallery
at Naval Historical Center {{DEFAULTSORT:Santa Teresa Transports of the United States Navy World War I auxiliary ships of the United States World War II auxiliary ships of the United States Transport ships of the United States Army Hospital ships of the United States Army 1918 ships Ships built by William Cramp & Sons