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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
Photo # NH 99889:  U.S. Army Hospital Ship John L.  Clem in 1944-1945

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- SHIPS of the UNITED STATES ARMY --

John L. Clem (U.S. Army Transport and Hospital Ship, 1941-1946).
Served in 1919 as USS Santa Ana (ID # 2869)

In March 1941 the U.S. Army purchased the 5211 gross-ton passenger liner Irwin, which had been built at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1918 and served in 1919 as USS Santa Ana. Renamed John L. Clem, she was converted to a troopship at New York City, and operated between the United States East and Gulf Coasts and ports in the Caribbean and Central America from June 1941 and September 1943. She was then sent to Mobile, Alabama, where she was converted to a hospital ship. Upon completion of this work in June 1944, John L. Clem steamed across the Atlantic to begin duty in the western Mediterranean. She returned to the U.S. in June 1945 to begin preparations for service in the Pacific. However, when Japan surrendered in September she was reconverted to a transport and used to carry workers between Jamaica and Florida. John L. Clem was turned over to the War Shiping Administration early in 1946 and later assigned to the U.S. Public Health Service. In December of that year she was laid up in the Maritime Commission's reserve fleet at Brunswick, Georgia, under the name Irwin. The ship was sold for scrapping in January 1948.

This page features all the views we have concerning the U.S. Army Transport and Hospital Ship John L. Clem, and provides links to photos of her as USS Santa Ana (ID # 2869).

For views of this ship while she was in U.S. Navy service, see:

  • USS Santa Ana (ID # 2869), 1919-1919.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: NH 85265

    USAT John L. Clem
    (U.S. Army Hospital Ship)

    Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken circa 1941.
    Built in 1918, this ship served as USS Santa Ana (ID # 2869) in 1919, then had more than two decades of commercial employment. She became the U.S. Army Transport John L. Clem in 1941, serving in that role until September 1943, when she began conversion to an Army hospital ship. She returned to transport service between September 1945 and January 1946.

    Copied from the book "Troopships of World War II", by Roland W. Charles.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 68KB; 740 x 405 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 99889

    USAHS John L. Clem
    (U.S. Army Hospital Ship)

    Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken in 1944-1945.
    Built in 1918, this ship served as USS Santa Ana (ID # 2869) in 1919. While in commercial service between the World Wars she was named Santa Ana, Guatamala, Santa Cecilia and Irwin. In 1941 she was purchased by the War Department. After two years as the U.S. Army Transport John L. Clem, she was converted to a hospital ship, serving in that role from June 1944 until September 1945.

    Copied from the book "Troopships of World War II", by Roland W. Charles.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 75KB; 740 x 410 pixels

     


    For views of this ship while she was in U.S. Navy service, see:

  • USS Santa Ana (ID # 2869), 1919-1919.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 31 December 2004