USS Admiral C. F. Hughes (AP-124)
Encyclopedia
USS Admiral C. F. Hughes (AP-124) was a named in honor of Charles Frederick Hughes
, an admiral
in the United States Navy
who served as Chief of Naval Operations
from 1927 to 1930.
Admiral C. F. Hughes was laid down on 29 November 1943 by the Bethlehem-Alameda Shipyard Inc.
, in Alameda, California
, under contract with the United States Maritime Commission
. She was launched
on 27 August 1944 under the sponsorship of Mrs. Louise Nimitz, the wife of Captain Otto Nimitz and the sister-in-law of Admiral
Chester W. Nimitz. On 31 January 1945 she was delivered to the United States Navy
and commissioned
with Captain John Trebes, USCG
, in command.
at San Diego for transportation to Hawaii
. She departed San Diego on 13 March and arrived in Pearl Harbor
on the 18 March. There, she took on another group of passengers bound for the United States
and then got underway on 23 March. The transport arrived in San Francisco on 28 March, disembarked her passengers, and then set sail for San Diego on 9 April. Admiral C. F. Hughes reached her destination the following day and began taking on more travelers. On the 14th, the transport left San Diego and set a westward course. The ship entered Pearl Harbor on the 19th, and some passengers left her while others came on board. Three days later, she put to sea on her way to the Mariana Islands
. Admiral C. F. Hughes put in at Guam
on 30 April, and all her passengers disembarked. After taking another group on board, including 221 Japan
ese prisoners of war, she stood out of Apra Harbor
on 3 May. The transport made a two-day stop at Pearl Harbor from 10 to 12 May to disembark the prisoners and then continued her voyage back to the West Coast. She moored at San Francisco on 17 May.
On 26 May 1945 the transport sailed for Europe
to embarked troops from the European Theater of Operations
for redeployment to the Pacific. The transport retraced her route through the Panama Canal
and reached Manila
on 20 July. Admiral C. F. Hughes embarked troops at Biak
in the Schouten Islands
, and Hollandia, New Guinea, before leaving the latter port on 4 August to return to the United States. She delivered the returning servicemen at San Francisco on 17 August.
, she arrived at Tacloban, Leyte on 17 September. Admiral C. F. Hughes visited Manila again before heading back to North America on the 24th. She paused at Victoria, Canada on 9 October to repatriate former prisoners of war from various Commonwealth Nations
, and arrived at Seattle, Washington
later that day. The transport made one more round-trip voyage to Yokohama
before being decommissioned
on 3 May 1946 and struck from the Navy list
in June.
which, in turn, transferred her to the United States Army
. The Army renamed the ship USAT General Edwin D. Patrick after Edwin D. Patrick
, a general
who was killed in action while commanding the 6th Infantry Division in the Philippines
in 1945. Under the Army, she served in the Army Transportation Service from 30 August 1946 until 1 March 1950 when the Navy reacquired her.
and Vietnam War
s.
facility at Suisun Bay
, Calif. On 31 August 1969, title to the ship was transferred to the Maritime Administration and was, again, struck from the Naval Register
9 October 1969. After being sold to ESCO Marine on 18 March 2010, the General Edwin D. Patrick, ex-Admiral C. F. Hughes, departed the San Francisco Bay
under tow to the breakers on 3 May 2010. Her scrapping was declared complete on January 25th, 2011.
Charles Frederick Hughes
Charles Frederick Hughes was an admiral in the United States Navy and served as Chief of Naval Operations.-Biography:...
, an admiral
Admiral (United States)
In the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard and the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, admiral is a four-star flag officer rank, with the pay grade of O-10. Admiral ranks above vice admiral and below Fleet Admiral in the Navy; the Coast Guard and the Public Health...
in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
who served as Chief of Naval Operations
Chief of Naval Operations
The Chief of Naval Operations is a statutory office held by a four-star admiral in the United States Navy, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Navy. The office is a military adviser and deputy to the Secretary of the Navy...
from 1927 to 1930.
Admiral C. F. Hughes was laid down on 29 November 1943 by the Bethlehem-Alameda Shipyard Inc.
Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation
Bethlehem Steel Corporation Shipbuilding Division was created in 1905 when Bethlehem Steel Corporation acquired the San Francisco shipyard Union Iron Works in 1905...
, in Alameda, California
Alameda, California
Alameda is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located on Alameda Island and Bay Farm Island, and is adjacent to Oakland in the San Francisco Bay. The Bay Farm Island portion of the city is adjacent to the Oakland International Airport. At the 2010 census, the city had a...
, under contract with the United States Maritime Commission
United States Maritime Commission
The United States Maritime Commission was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and replaced the U.S. Shipping Board which had existed since World War I...
. She was launched
Launched
Launched is the second album from German hardcore punk band, Beatsteaks. It was released in March, 2000 on Epitaph Records and follows the band's debut release 48/49 in 1997 on XNO Records. The album contains an interesting half acoustic cover version of a song by heavy metal band, Manowar, "Kings...
on 27 August 1944 under the sponsorship of Mrs. Louise Nimitz, the wife of Captain Otto Nimitz and the sister-in-law of Admiral
Admiral (United States)
In the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard and the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, admiral is a four-star flag officer rank, with the pay grade of O-10. Admiral ranks above vice admiral and below Fleet Admiral in the Navy; the Coast Guard and the Public Health...
Chester W. Nimitz. On 31 January 1945 she was delivered to the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
and commissioned
Ship commissioning
Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...
with Captain John Trebes, USCG
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
, in command.
World War II
Following brief sea trials, along the West Coast of the United States, Admiral C. F. Hughes embarked naval officers and MarinesUnited States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
at San Diego for transportation to Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
. She departed San Diego on 13 March and arrived in Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
on the 18 March. There, she took on another group of passengers bound for the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and then got underway on 23 March. The transport arrived in San Francisco on 28 March, disembarked her passengers, and then set sail for San Diego on 9 April. Admiral C. F. Hughes reached her destination the following day and began taking on more travelers. On the 14th, the transport left San Diego and set a westward course. The ship entered Pearl Harbor on the 19th, and some passengers left her while others came on board. Three days later, she put to sea on her way to the Mariana Islands
Mariana Islands
The Mariana Islands are an arc-shaped archipelago made up by the summits of 15 volcanic mountains in the north-western Pacific Ocean between the 12th and 21st parallels north and along the 145th meridian east...
. Admiral C. F. Hughes put in at Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
on 30 April, and all her passengers disembarked. After taking another group on board, including 221 Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese prisoners of war, she stood out of Apra Harbor
Apra Harbor
Apra Harbor is a deep-water port on the western side of Guam in the Mariana Islands. The harbor is formed by Orote Peninsula in the south and Cabras Island in the north. To the south, the harbor narrows and then widens again to form an inner harbor. The southern end of the harbor is the location...
on 3 May. The transport made a two-day stop at Pearl Harbor from 10 to 12 May to disembark the prisoners and then continued her voyage back to the West Coast. She moored at San Francisco on 17 May.
On 26 May 1945 the transport sailed for Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
to embarked troops from the European Theater of Operations
European Theater of Operations
The European Theater of Operations, United States Army was a United States Army formation which directed U.S. Army operations in parts of Europe from 1942 to 1945. It referred to Army Ground Forces, United States Army Air Forces, and Army Service Forces operations north of Italy and the...
for redeployment to the Pacific. The transport retraced her route through the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
and reached Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
on 20 July. Admiral C. F. Hughes embarked troops at Biak
Biak
Biak features a tropical rainforest climate with nearly identical temperatures throughout the course of the year. The average annual temperature in the city is 27 degrees celsius, which is also generally the average temperature of each day in Biak...
in the Schouten Islands
Schouten Islands
The Indonesian Schouten Islands are an island group of Papua province, eastern Indonesia in the Cenderawasih Bay 50 km off the north-western coast of the island of New Guinea...
, and Hollandia, New Guinea, before leaving the latter port on 4 August to return to the United States. She delivered the returning servicemen at San Francisco on 17 August.
1945-1967
The ship put to sea on 31 August with replacements for western Pacific garrisons. Steaming via UlithiUlithi
Ulithi is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about 191 km east of Yap. It consists of 40 islets totalling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the largest in the world. It is administered by the state of Yap in the Federated States of...
, she arrived at Tacloban, Leyte on 17 September. Admiral C. F. Hughes visited Manila again before heading back to North America on the 24th. She paused at Victoria, Canada on 9 October to repatriate former prisoners of war from various Commonwealth Nations
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
, and arrived at Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
later that day. The transport made one more round-trip voyage to Yokohama
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
before being decommissioned
Ship decommissioning
To decommission a ship is to terminate her career in service in the armed forces of her nation. A somber occasion, it has little of the elaborate ceremony of ship commissioning, but carries significant tradition....
on 3 May 1946 and struck from the Navy list
Naval Vessel Register
The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...
in June.
US Army Transportation Service
After being decommissioned from the Navy, Admiral C. F. Hughes was returned to the War Shipping AdministrationWar Shipping Administration
The War Shipping Administration was a World War II emergency war agency of the US Government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the US needed for fighting the war....
which, in turn, transferred her to the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. The Army renamed the ship USAT General Edwin D. Patrick after Edwin D. Patrick
Edwin D. Patrick
Major General Edwin Davies Patrick was an American general who was the commander of the 6th Infantry Division during World War II.-Biography:...
, a general
General (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Air Force, and United States Marine Corps, general is a four-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-10. General ranks above lieutenant general and below General of the Army or General of the Air Force; the Marine Corps does not have an...
who was killed in action while commanding the 6th Infantry Division in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
in 1945. Under the Army, she served in the Army Transportation Service from 30 August 1946 until 1 March 1950 when the Navy reacquired her.
Military Sea Transportation Service
Retaining her Army name, she was assigned to the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) and was manned by a civil service crew. Operating out of San Francisco, USNS General Edwin D. Patrick (T-AP-124) spent almost two decades transporting troops, military dependents, and cargo to American bases throughout the western Pacific, and supported American forces in the KoreanKorean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
and Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
s.
Reserve Fleet
Early in 1967, the transport was placed in a ready reserve status. On 30 September 1968, the ship was laid up at the Maritime Administration's National Defense Reserve FleetNational Defense Reserve Fleet
The National Defense Reserve Fleet consists of "mothballed" ships, mostly merchant vessels, that can be activated within 20 to 120 days to provide shipping for the United States of America during national emergencies, either military or non-military, such as commercial shipping crises.The NDRF is...
facility at Suisun Bay
Suisun Bay
Suisun Bay is a shallow tidal estuary at in northern California, USA. It lies at the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, forming the entrance to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, an inverted river delta...
, Calif. On 31 August 1969, title to the ship was transferred to the Maritime Administration and was, again, struck from the Naval Register
Naval Vessel Register
The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...
9 October 1969. After being sold to ESCO Marine on 18 March 2010, the General Edwin D. Patrick, ex-Admiral C. F. Hughes, departed the San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
under tow to the breakers on 3 May 2010. Her scrapping was declared complete on January 25th, 2011.