USS Haven (AH-12) was the lead ship of her class of hospital ships built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. Laid down as SS Marine Hawk, she was transferred from the Maritime Commission for conversion to a hospital ship, and served in that capacity through the end of the war. She was redesignated APH-112 (evacuation transport) in June 1946 for participation in Operation Crossroads, returning to her original AP-12 designation in October 1946. Haven participated in the Korean War and eventually ending her military career acting as a floating hospital in Long Beach, California. She was later converted to a chemical carrier and scrapped in 1987. Operational history World War II Initially named SS Marine Hawk, Haven was launched under Maritime Commission contract by Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Chester, Pennsylvania, 24 June 1944; sponsored by Mrs. E. Lang; acquired and placed in service 15 to 19 June 1944 for transportation to her conversion yard, Todd-Erie Shipyard, Brooklyn. Upon completion of her conversion to Navy use, she commissioned 5 May 1945. Following shakedown training, the hospital ship sailed 14 June via the Panama Canal for the Pacific Theater, where the war was reaching its climax. Reaching Pearl Harbor 6 July the ship brought patients on board for return to San Francisco. After returning to Hawaii 11 August, just prior to the Japanese surrender, Haven sailed to Okinawa and Nagasaki. She arrived off the destroyed Japanese city 11 September and brought on board a group of allied ex-prisoners of war, some of them suffering from the effects of the atomic blast. During the remainder of 1945 the ship was engaged in transporting patients from Guam, Saipan, and Pearl Harbor to San Francisco, arriving after her second long voyage 31 January 1946. At San Francisco Haven took on radiological equipment and scientific researchers in preparation for the forthcoming atomic tests in the Pacific, Operation Crossroads. She sailed 29 May for Pearl Harbor and arrived at Bikini Atoll 12 June 1946, temporarily re-designated APH-112. The ship remained in the test area supervising the medical aspects of the experiments throughout the operation, and arrived at Kwajalein Atoll 26 August to assist in the inspection of the test ships. Haven departed 10 October for Pearl Harbor and the United States, and upon her arrival and decontamination was assigned once again to transport troops from the Pacific outposts to California as AH-12. This important