Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
Office of the Chief of Naval OperationsNaval History Division • Washington
The son of Neptune, the god of the sea in Roman mythology.
(AS-21: dp 8,350; l. 403'; b 61'; dr. 21'6"; s. 20 k.; cpl. 440; a.1 4",2 3", 4 20mm.)
Antaeus (AS-21) was launched 9 January 1932 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Va., as the passenger ship St. John; sponsored by Mrs. R. G. Stone; acquired by the Navy 24 April 1941; renamed Antaeus (AS-21); and commissioned 17 May 1941, Commander R. S. Morse in command,
Until September 1942 Antaeus operated in the Caribbean on training exercises with submarines. On 18 August 1942 she assisted Bass (SS-104), who had been severely damaged by fire and had lost 28 of her crew, to Balboa. She was then converted to a transport (although not reclassified AG-67 until 15 September 1943) and shuttled troops to the Caribbean islands, the Canal Zone, and Argentia, Newfoundland from bases at New York City and Davisville, R.I. until December 1944.
Antaeus entered the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, N.Y., on 28 December 1944. There, she underwent conversion to a hospital ship. On 18 January 1945, the vessel was renamed Rescue and redesignated AH-18. Following a period of sea trials, the new hospital ship got underway for the Pacific theater of action. She arrived off Okinawa on 13 June, embarked men wounded in the fighting ashore, survived unscathed despite almost constant Japanese air attack against Allied shipping in the area, and safely delivered her patients to a hospital on Guam.
After a short upkeep period, Rescue joined the 3d Fleet on 5 July. She supported 3d Fleet ships conducting carrier strikes and bombardment of the Japanese home islands. The ship would rendezvous with the combatant vessels and take on casualties by breeches buoy both at night and under battle conditions. upon the conclusion of World War II, Rescue sailed into Tokyo Bay with the 3d Fleet and began the medical screening of Allied prisoners of war and shuttling them from various prison camps to the base at Yokohama.
in late September, the ship arrived at Guam where she discharged a few former prisoners whose home had been on that island. Rescue then proceeded to San Francisco, Calif. She was decommissioned on 29 June 1946 and was transferred to the Maritime Administration. her name was struck from the Navy list on 15 August 1946. The vessel was subsequently refitted as a merchant ship and saw service as such from 1946 into 1959, in which year she was scrapped.
Rescue earned two battle stars for her World War II service.