USS General A. E. Anderson (AP-111) in 1944 | |
History | |
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United States | |
Name | USS General A. E. Anderson |
Namesake | General Alexander E. Anderson, US Army |
Builder | Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock |
Launched | 2 May 1943 |
Sponsored by | Mrs George C. Marshall |
Acquired | 25 August 1943 |
Commissioned | 5 October 1943 |
Decommissioned | 10 November 1958 |
Stricken | 26 October 1990 |
Identification |
|
Honors and awards | One service star for Korean War service |
Fate | Scrapped in Taiwan, July 1987 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | General John Pope-class transport |
Displacement | 11,450 tons (lt); 20,175 tons full load |
Length | 622 feet 7 inches (189.76 m) |
Beam | 75 feet 6 inches (23.01 m) |
Draft | 25 feet 6 inches (7.77 m) |
Installed power | 17,000 shp |
Propulsion | |
Speed | 21 knots (39 km/h) |
Capacity | 5,142 |
Complement | 465 |
Armament | 4 x single 5"/38 caliber dual purpose guns, 4 x quad 1.1" guns, 20 x single 20mm guns |
USS General A. E. Anderson (AP-111) was a troop transport that served with the United States Navy in World War II and the Korean War.
General A. E. Anderson was launched 2 May 1943 under a Maritime Commission contract by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company of Kearny, New Jersey; acquired by the Navy 25 August 1943; placed in partial commission the same day for transfer to Baltimore for conversion to a transport by the Maryland Drydock Company; and placed in full commission at Baltimore 5 October 1943.
From 25 October 1943 to 21 March 1944 General A. E. Anderson made four round-trip transport voyages out of Norfolk, Virginia to Casablanca, French Morocco. Underway again 26 March 1944, she returned to North Africa and touched at Gourock, Scotland, before steaming to Bermuda, where British censors and their families embarked for passage to New York. The ship reached New York 7 May, and following a round-trip voyage to Belfast, Northern Ireland (carrying the Nebraska "All Hell Can't Stop Us" 134th Infantry Regiment along with other elements of the 35th Division, including the Band, and accompanied by the cruiser USS Marblehead. Troops were disembarked at Avonmouth, Port of Bristol") [1] she stood out of Norfolk 29 June for Bombay, where her troops debarked 7 August. General A. E. Anderson returned to San Pedro, Los Angeles, 11 September 1944, and made another long round-trip voyage thence to Bombay via Australia, returning 9 December.
Until the summer of 1945 the busy ship made two round-trip voyages from San Francisco to Hollandia and Leyte, sailing from Leyte to reach Norfolk 22 July 1945. The most famous voyage was the return of prisoners of war rescued by the Raid at Cabanatuan. The General A. E. Anderson departed Hollandia, New Guinea carrying 489 POWs. It traveled a longer route due to threats from the Japanese. It arrived in San Francisco on 8 March 1945, amid great fanfare and a band playing "Don't Fence Me In". Film footage of this voyage can be seen in the ending credits of the movie, "The Great Raid".
General A. E. Anderson then commenced troop rotation and Magic Carpet duties. From 8 August 1945 to 15 April 1946 she made eight transatlantic voyages to France (Marseilles, Le Havre), England (Southampton), and India (Karachi). Of these active voyages, six were from New York, and one each from Norfolk and Boston.
The ship stood out of Norfolk 9 July 1946 for San Francisco, arriving 24 July, and commenced a pattern of troop carrying and supply runs from West Coast ports to China, Japan, the Philippines, and Guam.
Assigned to MSTS in October 1949, she continued these duties until war flared again in the Far East when Communist troops crossed the 38th Parallel to invade the Republic of Korea. The Navy moved quickly to bring American force into action to halt and push back the North Koreans. General A. E. Anderson embarked the men and equipment of Marine Air Group 33 at Terminal Island, California, and headed for Japan. She reached Kobe 31 July 1950 with these Marine fliers who helped save the day for embattled South Korean and American ground forces as they struggled to maintain a foothold at the southern tip of the beleaguered Korean peninsula.
Returning to San Francisco in August, she embarked 1,800 men of the 11th Airborne Division's 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team and brought them to Moji, Japan, on 20 September 1950.
Throughout the remainder of the Korean War General A. E. Anderson followed her familiar pattern of transport runs from West Coast ports to Japan and Korea as she supported United Nations forces in Korea.
Thereafter she continued identical peacetime operations until she decommissioned at Oakland, California, 10 November 1958. After being returned to the Maritime Administration she entered the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Suisun Bay, California. She was sold for scrap on 14 November 1986 for the sum of $1,177,200 and scrapped in Taiwan in July 1987.
General A. E. Anderson received one service star for Korean War service.
USS General M. C. Meigs (AP-116) was a General John Pope class troop transport of the P2-S2-R2 type. She was a fast troop ship that transported troops for the United States in World War II and the Korean War. The ship was named after General Montgomery C. Meigs, the Quartermaster General of the United States Army during the United States Civil War.
USS Admiral W. S. Sims (AP-127) was a transport in the United States Navy. She was later renamed USNS General William O. Darby (T-AP-127). Later her name was struck and she was known simply by her hull number. In 1981, she was reclassified as IX-510.
USS Admiral W. L. Capps (AP-121), an Admiral W. S. Benson-class transport, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Rear Admiral Washington L. Capps (1864–1935). Unusually, the first — USS Capps (DD-550) — served concurrently with the Admiral W. L. Capps. Via a transfer to the United States Army and then back to the Navy, the ship was renamed USNS General Hugh J. Gaffey (T-AP-121), making her the only ship to be named for Hugh Joseph Gaffey.
USS Thomas Jefferson (APA-30), serving from 1 May 1942 until 18 July 1955, was a transport and then reclassified on 1 February 1943 as a President Jackson-class attack transport. She was laid down under Maritime Commission contract as President Garfield on 5 February 1940 at Newport News, Virginia, by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Company for the American President Lines. The ship was launched on 20 November 1940, sponsored by Miss Eugenia Merrill. President Garfield was completed 26 March 1941 and acquired by the War Shipping Administration (WSA) 29 November 1941 with American President Lines, the WSA agent, operating the ship as a troop transport. On 1 May 1942 the United States Navy purchased the ship and commissioned her USS Thomas Jefferson, named for Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, on 31 August 1942.
USS Elmore (APA-42) was a Bayfield-class attack transport in service with the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946. She was then sold into commercial service and was scrapped in 1971.
USS George F. Elliott (AP-105) was a cargo liner built for the Mississippi Shipping Company as SS Delbrasil for operation between New Orleans and the east coast of South America in 1939 by its operator, Delta Line. The ship entered that service and operated until taken over by the War Shipping Administration (WSA) on 28 April 1942 for operation by Delta Line acting as WSA's agent. On 25 August 1943 WSA allocated the ship to the Navy for conversion to a troop transport commissioned and operated by the Navy for the duration of the war. Ownership of the ship was transferred from Mississippi Shipping to WSA on 4 February 1944 while under Navy operation and was retained until sale to American South African Lines on 22 December 1948. The ship was renamed African Endeavor until returned as a trade in to the Maritime Commission on 22 September 1960 for layup in the James River reserve fleet and later sold to Boston Metals for scrapping.
USS Admiral W. S. Benson (AP-120) began as an unnamed transport, AP-120, that was laid down on 10 December 1942 at Alameda, California by the Bethlehem-Alameda Shipbuilding Corp., under a Maritime Commission contract. She was named Admiral W. S. Benson (AP-120) on 20 October 1943 and launched on 22 November 1943; sponsored by Miss Dorothy Lucille Benson, granddaughter of the late Admiral William S. Benson. She was accepted from the Maritime Commission on 23 August 1944 and commissioned the same day.
USS Admiral R. E. Coontz (AP-122) was an Admiral W. S. Benson-class transport built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She was laid down under a Maritime Commission contract on 15 January 1943 at Alameda, California, by the Bethlehem Steel Corp., and launched on 22 April 1944. She was sponsored by Mrs. Edwin Kokko, daughter of Admiral Coontz, and commissioned on 21 November 1944.
USS Admiral E. W. Eberle (AP-123) was laid down on 15 February 1943 under a Maritime Commission contract by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Alameda, California; launched on 14 June 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Earl Warren, the wife of the Governor of California who later became Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court; and acquired by the Navy and commissioned on 24 January 1945.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships .