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NavSource Online: Army Ship Photo Archive

USAHS Wisteria

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from left to right
American Campaign Medal - Europe-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal

Hospital Ship:

Laid down, 6 February 1943, as SS William Osler, a type EC2-S-C1 "Liberty Ship", under Maritime Commission Contract (MCE-954) at Bethlehem-Fairfield, Baltimore MD.

Launched, 6 March 1943

Delivered, 22 March 1943, to the War Shipping Administration upon completion

Operated under a General Agency Agreement for the War Shipping Administration by States Marine Corp.

Purchased, 22 November 1943, by the War Department for conversion to a hospital ship

Converted at Bethlehem Steel Co. Brooklyn, 27th St. Yard, New York between 23 November 1943 and 15 July 1944

Commissioned USAHS Wisteria in July 1944

During World War II USAHS Wisteria operated in European-Africa-Middle East Theater

Decommissioned in June 1947

Returned to the Maritime Commission for lay up, 24 June 1947, in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Columbia River Group Astoria, OR.

Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 29 February 1968, to Oregon Shipwreckers Inc. (one of seven ships) (PD-X-793, dated 6 February 1968) for $365,898.99, Withdrawn, 27 march 1968

Specifications:
Displacement 7,940 gross tons
Length 441'6"
Beam 56'10"
Draft 24'
Speed 11 kts.

Complement

Officers unknown

Enlisted, unknown

Hospital Ship - Patient Capacity 591

Passenger/Transport - 1,067 troops and 147 dependents
Fuel Capacities unknown
Cruise Radius 17,688 nm
Propulsion

two boilers

one triple expansion steam engine, 2,500hp Ship's Service Generators
three recip-drive 20Kw 120V D.C.
one turbo-drive 60Kw 120V D.C.

single propeller

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Source
U.S. Maritime Commission - SS Willam Osler
30081409	208k	SS William Osler Builders Plate	Tommy Trampp
USAHS Wisteria
30081408	82k	SS William Osler was converted into an Army Hospital Ship, renamed USAHS Wisteria, seem here underway, date and location unknown.	Tommy Trampp
30081407	548k	*Namesake* Wisteria is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family. The genus includes four species of woody twining vines that are native to China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, southern Canada, the Eastern United States, and north of Iran. They were later introduced to France, Germany and various other countries in Europe (Wikipedia) Photo - Chinese Wisteria flower clusters by 3268zauber licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported	Tommy Trampp
30081404	98k	USAHS Wisteria moored pierside, date and location unknown. US Army Signal Corps. photo	John Spivey
30081401	108k	USAHS Wisteria arriving at Port of Embarkation, Charleston, S.C., date unknown. US Army Signal Corps. photo
	66k	USAHS Wisteria in port Gibraltar, circa 1944-45. Photo source FLICKR Bahrfeldt
	326k	USAHS Wisteria newspaper article. Photo source FLICKR Bahrfeldt
30081406	256k	USAHS Wisteria and USAHS Acadia docked at Yokohama, Japan, 1946 US Army Signal Corps photo now in Digital collection ww2online - The National WWII Museum photo # 2011.309.28_1
30081405	18k	USAHS Wisteria at anchor, date and location unknown. US Army photo from Flicker
30081410	82k	US Army Chaplain 1LT. Arthur J. Gibson aboard USAHS Wisteria mid Atlantic, circa 1945-1946.	Donald Gibson, son of Arthur J. Gibson
30081411	99k	USAHS Wisteria whale boat being raised to the deck after picking up a patient from another ship, mid-Atlantic, circa 1945-1945. "My father told me this scene is of the *Wisteria* taking on board a stricken sailor from another ship at sea. The sailor had an acute appendicitis. I don’t know if this is a scene of the ‘before’ or ‘after’ pick-up. I do recall my father’s concern for this being event being ‘dangerous.’ First was his concern for the patient. Second was his worry about two ships dead stopped in the ocean near each other. By 1945 (and definitely ’46), the threat of U-boat attack was essentially nonexistent. Another concern was the two ships may somehow collide, or someone might fall overboard during a process they rarely (if ever) practiced."	Donald Gibson, son of Arthur J. Gibson
30081412	76k	USAHS Wisteria - "The man on the smokestack obviously has nothing to do with that particular event. Below the man’s feet, you can clearly see the lights used for illuminating the outline of the red cross on the stack. My father said even though the ship was illuminated at night, he and the crew were always worred a U-boat would attack anyway. My dad had a lifelong aversion to German submarines, and would scowl, frown and lower his voice whenever he talked about them. He had at least 6 Atlantic crossings and was never attacked, though." circa 1945-1946.	Donald Gibson, son of Arthur J. Gibson

USAHS Wisteria history is from "Troopships of World War II", by Roland W. Charles, Published by The Army Transportation Association, Washington, D.C., 1947

Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
MARAD Vessel History Database - William Osler
MARAD Vessel History Database - Wisteria
1/350th scale model of USAHS Wisteria

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This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo

Last Updated 17 January 2025