The second USS Solace (AH-5) was built in 1927 as the passenger ship SS Iroquois by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Newport News, Virginia. The liner was acquired by the Navy from the Clyde Mallory Steamship Line on 22 July 1940, renamed Solace (AH-5); converted into a hospital ship at the Atlantic Basin Iron Works, Brooklyn, N.Y., and was commissioned on 9 August 1941, Captain Benjamin Perlman in command. Service history World War II Solace was at Pearl Harbor during the attack of 7 December 1941. As an unarmed hospital ship, she was unable to participate in defending against the Japanese aircraft. A crew member filming from the deck of that ship, an Army medical doctor named Eric Haakenson, captured the precise moment of 's explosion. She immediately sent her motor launches with stretcher parties to the stricken and burning battleship Arizona to evacuate the wounded, and pulled men from the water which was covered in burning oil. After several trips to Arizona and , the boat crews then assisted . Honoring the rules of the Geneva Convention, the attacking Japanese aircraft did not hit Solace due to her white paint and red crosses. She was one of the few ships not damaged during the attack. In March 1942, Solace was ordered to the South Pacific and preceded to Pago Pago, Samoa. From there, she sailed to the Tonga Islands, arrived at Tongatapu on 15 April, and remained there until 4 August. On that day, she got underway and steamed, via Nouméa, New Caledonia, to New Zealand. She arrived at Auckland on the 19th and discharged her patients. From then until May 1943, Solace shuttled between New Zealand, Australia, New Caledonia, Espiritu Santo, the New Hebrides, and the Fiji Islands, caring for fleet casualties and servicemen wounded in the island campaigns under desperate circumstances. For example, on 14 January 1943, one hospital corpsman and 99 patients were transferred aboard from U.S. Advanced Hospital Base Button at Espiritu Santo with 369 patients already on board, far exceeding official patient capacity. Patients whom she could not return to duty shortly were evacuated to hospitals for more prolonged care. From June–August, she operated as a station hospital ship at Nouméa. On 30 August, Solace sailed to Efate, New Hebrides, and performed the same duties at that port until sailing for Auckland on 3 October. On the 22nd, the hospital ship departed