Naval Nurses
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The Naval Hospital Boat "Red
Rover"
1863
From Harper's Weekly, May 9, 1863
The Mariners' Museum Research Library and Archives
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During the Civil War, the paddle wheeler Red Rover became the
Union's first hospital ship. On December 24, 1862, three Sisters of
the Holy Cross and six African-American women boarded the Red Rover
to help nurse the sick and wounded soldiers. The women served as nurses
throughout the war, and two of the nuns-- Sister
Veronica Scholl and Sister Adela Moran--remained on the ship until
the last patient was moved to the Grampusin November 1865.
In February 1962, the navy honored the women as the forerunners of
the modern Navy Nurse Corps.
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The Sister
1863
From Harper's Weekly,
May 9, 1863
The Mariners' Museum Research Library and Archives
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The Ward: The Floating Hospital on
the Mississippi
1863
From Harper's Weekly,
May 9, 1863
The Mariners' Museum Research Library and Archives |
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The Navy Nurse
Corps
During the Spanish-American War, nurse instructors were hired
to train hospital workers for the newly established Navy Hospital
Corps of 1898. The Navy Nurse Corps was established in 1908,
with the first twenty nurses assigned to the naval hospital
in Washington, D.C. By World War I there were 446 nurses in
the Navy Reserve Nurse Corps.
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The "Sacred Twenty," Original
Members of the Navy Nurse Corps
Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Historical
Center |
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A Posed Shot aboard the USS Relief,
1926
The Mariners' Museum
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Become a Nurse
1942
The Mariners' Museum |
In 1920, the first nurses were stationed on
the new hospital ship USS Relief. Though
given the status of officers with "relative rank," they
did not enjoy most officers' privileges.
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USS Relief, Navy Nurses on Deck
1926
The Mariners' Museum |
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