USS General A. W. Brewster (AP-155) was a for the U.S. 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...

 in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. The ship was crewed by the U.S. Coast Guard

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...

 throughout the war. She was named in honor of U.S. 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...

 general Andre Walker Brewster

Andre W. Brewster

Andre Walker Brewster was a major general in the United States Army and a Medal of Honor recipient for his role in the Boxer Rebellion.-Biography:...

. She was transferred to the U.S. Army as USAT General A. W. Brewster in 1946. On 1 March 1950 she was transferred to the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) as USNS General A. W. Brewster (T-AP-155). She was later sold for commercial operation under the name SS Philadelphia, before being scrapped some time after November 1987.

Operational history

General A. W. Brewster (AP-155) was laid down 10 October 1944 under 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...

 contract (MC #712) by Kaiser Co., Inc.

Kaiser Shipyards

The Kaiser Shipyards were seven major shipbuilding yards located mostly on the U.S. west coast during World War II. They were owned by the Kaiser Shipbuilding Company, a creation of American industrialist Henry J...

, Yard 3, Richmond, California

Richmond, California

Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was incorporated on August 7, 1905. It is located in the East Bay, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is a residential inner suburb of San Francisco, as well as the site of heavy industry, which has been...

; launched 21 January 1945; sponsored by Mrs. Bert Hotchkiss; acquired and commissioned 23 April 1945, Comdr. E. E. Hahn, 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.

After shakedown out of San Diego

San Diego, California

San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...

, the transport sailed 28 May from San Pedro

San Pedro, Los Angeles, California

San Pedro is a port district of the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. It was annexed in 1909 and is a major seaport of the area...

. Transiting 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...

, she arrived Avonmouth

Avonmouth

Avonmouth is a port and suburb of Bristol, England, located on the Severn Estuary, at the mouth of the River Avon.The council ward of Avonmouth also includes Shirehampton and the western end of Lawrence Weston.- Geography :...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, 20 June and embarked troops for Pacific ports. Sailing westward, General A. W. Brewster passed through the canal again and arrived Humboldt Bay, New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

, 27 July 1945. She then sailed to 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...

, remaining there until after the capitulation of Japan

Surrender of Japan

The surrender of Japan in 1945 brought hostilities of World War II to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy was incapable of conducting operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent...

. The ship embarked veterans and returned to San Francisco

San Francisco, California

San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

 1 September.

General A. W. Brewster made three additional voyages to the Far East in the immediate postwar period, bringing home thousands of servicemen. She decommissioned at San Francisco 10 April 1946 and was transferred to the Maritime Commission and later to Army Transportation Service for Pacific duty.

One journey made by USAT General A. W. Brewster left Manila in September 1946 with elements of the U.S. Thirteenth Air Force

Thirteenth Air Force

The Thirteenth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces . It is headquartered at Hickam Air Force Base on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. 13 AF has never been stationed in the continental United States...

  and arriving in Oakland

Oakland, California

Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...

 the next month.

The ship was reacquired by the Navy 1 March 1950 and sailed for the Military Sea Transportation Service with a civilian crew. General A. W. Brewster made many voyages to Korea

Korea

Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

 and Japan during the next 3 years, carrying more than 67,000 troops.

A typical voyage of this period was one that arrived in San Francisco on 25 May 1952 and was documented by photojournalists with the San Francisco News-Call Bulletin.

In 1954 the ship was diverted to the coast of Indochina for Operation Passage to Freedom

Operation Passage to Freedom

Operation Passage to Freedom was the term used by the United States Navy to describe its transportation in 1954–55 of 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the French Army from communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam...

. During September and November General A. W. Brewster and other navy ships brought thousands of refugees out of the northern sector of Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

 as that country was partitioned. Returning to San Francisco, the transport was placed in Reduced Operational Status in December 1954, and was returned to the Maritime Administration 26 July 1955 . General A. W. Brewster was placed in the National Defense Reserve Fleet

National 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...

, Suisun Bay, California

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...

, where she remained until being sold for commercial service in 1968. She was converted to a container ship

Container ship

Container ships are cargo ships that carry all of their load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. They form a common means of commercial intermodal freight transport.-History:...

 and operated for Sea-Land Service, Inc.

Sea-Land Service, Inc.

Sea-Land Service, Inc. was a pioneering shipping and containerization company founded by American entrepreneur Malcom McLean in 1960, out of the operations of the Pan-Atlantic Steamship Company, which McLean acquired in 1955...

 under the name SS Philadelphia. She was sold to ship breaker

Ship Breaker

Ship Breaker is a 2010 young adult novel by Paolo Bacigalupi set in a postapocalyptic future. It was a finalist for the 2010 National Book Award for Young People's Literature and won the 2011 Michael L. Printz Award and the Locus Award for Best Young Adult Book...

s in Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

 in November 1987.

General A. W. Brewster received five battle stars for Korean War

Korean 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...

service.

External links