SS William Osler
SS William Osler was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after William Osler, a Canadian physician and one of the "Big Four" founding professors of Johns Hopkins Hospital. Osler created the first residency program for specialty training of physicians. He was instrumental in founding the Medical Library Association of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Association of Medical Librarians. He left his own large history of medicine library to McGill, where it became the Osler Library.
Construction
William Osler was laid down on 6 February 1943, under a Maritime Commission contract, MCE hull 954, by the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard, Baltimore, Maryland; she was launched on 6 March 1943.History
She was allocated to the Marine Transport Lines, Inc., on 22 March 1943.Conversion to United States Army Hospital Ship
On 22 November 1943, she was purchased by the War Department for conversion to a hospital ship for the United States Army. She was transferred to the Bethlehem Steel Company's 27th St. Yard, in Brooklyn, New York, on 23 November 1943.From 23 November 1943 to 15 July 1944, she was converted to a hospital ship. All of her cargo handling gear was removed, with additional ballast added to compensate the removal of superstructure, bulkheads, piping, and insulation. New fresh-water tanks were added in hold #4 and #5, with the addition of several of the double-hull fuel tanks being converted for fresh-water storage. The hull was strengthened by the addition of an wide, thick, steel band rivetted around 80% of the hull. There were additional plating added to the upper deck with steel girders installed at points of stress and new bulkheads and partitions built. The hatch openings on the main and second decks were closed. A third deck, in addition to a new superstructure, special top, and bridge decks were built.
Insulation was added for hot and cold climates, with over 400 radiators and 28 separate ventilating units. Distilling equipment was added that could supply of fresh water. There were eight refrigerated spaces, totaling.
A "lower deck" was constructed within the hull. The new construction had taken her to a bare shell, then added over 300 new spaces for rooms, wards, clinics, morgues, autopsy rooms, x-ray rooms, laboratories, and operating theaters.
Forty-four wards, capable of handling from 2–108 beds, were built, with an expected capacity of almost 600 patients. Thirty-five rooms were built for the medical staff, with forty-one rooms built for the ships crew. The new construction also included wards that were designated to mental patients, along with cells for violent patients.
A new funnel was constructed to enable a Red Cross symbol to be fitted.