CONVERSION OF THE SMY-37 CHAUMONT TO THE USS SAMARITAN AH-10

USS CHAUMONT, one of twelve 13,400-ton (displacement) Hog Island Type B (Design 1024) transports built for the U.S. Shipping Board at Hog Island, Pennsylvania by the American International Shipbuilding Corporation, was laid down in November 1918 as SS Shope, launched in March 1920 as the U.S. Army's CHAUMONT, and completed a few months later. She became excess to Army needs, so she was transferred to the Navy on 3 November 1921 and commissioned on the 22nd.

During the inter-war years she operated as a navy transport sailing between the Pacific West Coast to various stations (Hawaii, the Philippines, Guam, China and Australia) in the Pacific area.

During WW 2 she operated as a transport bringing troops and supplies to Australia and then making runs from Seattle to Alaska. In 1944 she went through a conversion and was recommissioned in March 1944 as the USS SAMARITAN AH-10. SAMARITAN evacuated patients from Guam, Kwajalein, Saipan, Peleliu, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. On 29 August 1946 she was transferred to the Maritime Commission for disposal, and was delivered to a scrapping firm in January 1948. Samaritan received four battle stars for her World War II service.

My conversion of the SMY CHAUMONT to the SAMARITAN AH-10 is a rather straight forward project. First remove the aft boat cranes, the aft deck house and all the deck features. Be sure to remove the two boats next to forward cargo hole because these were to be used as receiving stations. Finally, remove the aft anchor.

I then rebuilt the aft AH deck house structure which contains the sterilisation furnace which is why there is a small smoke stack. I then added the 8 large Carley lift rafts (Mountford) and 4 small life rafts just forward of the aft deck house. Paint the entire ship white and then add the red crosses and the green lines. I finished it off by spraying a coat of Dull Coat.

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