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 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 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 Hinds's 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. Moved to the
James River,
Virginia,
Reserve Fleet in April 1948, the nearly forty-year-old ship was sold for scrapping in May 1957. ==References==