USS General D. E. Aultman (AP-156) 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 Dwight Edward Aultman. She was transferred to the U.S. Army as USAT General D. E. Aultman in 1946. On 1 March 1950 she was transferred to the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) as USNS General D. E. Aultman (T-AP-156). She was later sold for commercial operation under the name SS Portland, before being scrapped some time after October 1986.

Operational history

General D. E. Aultman (AP-156) was launched 18 February 1945 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 #713) 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...

; sponsored by Mrs. Alma H. Aultman, widow of General Aultman; acquired by the Navy and commissioned 20 May 1945, Captain S. P. Swicegood, 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...

, General D. E. Aultman got underway 30 June bound for France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. She transited 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 arrived Marseille

Marseille

Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...

s 24 July, embarking troops, nurses, and Red Cross workers for the Pacific theater. The transport sailed 26 July via the Panama Canal and found herself 1 day out of Balboa bound for 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...

 when the Japanese capitulated

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...

 15 August.

General D. E. Aultman arrived Humboldt Bay, New Guinea 4 September, and carried troops to 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,...

 before returning to Portland 11 October 1945. She was then assigned to the "Magic-Carpet

Operation Magic Carpet (World War II)

Operation Magic Carpet was the post-World War II effort by the War Shipping Administration to repatriate over eight million American military personnel from the European, Pacific, and CBI theaters. Hundreds of Liberty ships, Victory ships, and troop transports began repatriating soldiers from...

" fleet, contributing her important part to the gigantic task of returning the hundred of thousands of Pacific veterans. She made two "Magic-Carpet" voyages to the Far East before decommissioning at 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...

 15 March 1946. She was returned to the Maritime Commission for transfer to the Army Transportation Service, serving in the Pacific.

Reacquired by the Navy 1 March 1950, General D. E. Aultman joined the MSTS with a civil service crew and resumed her support of American posts in the Pacific. After the outbreak of the 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...

 in June 1950, the transport began the vital job of transporting troops to that strategic country. The veteran ship sailed to the western Pacific until she was returned to the Maritime Commission 4 June 1958. She entered 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 sold to Containership Chartering Service of Wilmington, Delaware

Wilmington, Delaware

Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...

 for commercial use in 1967 or 1968. She was converted to an 11.389 ton 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:...

 by Willamette Iron & Steel Co. and renamed Portland in 1968. She was sold, possibly for scrapping, in October 1986.

External links

• Airman Bob Stadille’s personal account of a journey to Okinawa on General D. E. Aultman (c. 1950)
• Captain Don Kincaid’s recollections of a journey to the Philippines on General D. E. Aultman at age 9 (c. 1955)