The ships were to serve three missions: damage control / firefighting; casualty treatment / evacuation; and patrol / guardship.

Three ships of the class—PCER-848, -849 and -850—were refitted and their hospital spaces converted into communications centers to support the US Army's activities in the Pacific Theater.

[1] The ship was laid down on 24 September 1943 by the Pullman-Standard Car Manufacturing Company of Chicago, launched on 31 January 1944, and commissioned as USS PCE(R)-849 on 11 April 1944.

[3] On 17 July 1957, three crew members were killed and eight were injured (four seriously) by an explosion when the ship was approximately 90 miles (140 km) southeast of Montauk, New York.

[8] The four seriously injured crew members were transferred to the nearby RMS Queen Mary, which was en route from New York City to England, and later transported to Newport, Rhode Island, by the USS Sunbird.