USS General S. D. Sturgis (AP-137) 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...

. 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 Samuel Davis Sturgis

Samuel D. Sturgis

Samuel Davis Sturgis was an American military officer who served in the Mexican-American War, as a Union general in the American Civil War, and later in the Indian Wars.-Early life:...

. She was transferred to the U.S. Army as USAT General S. D. Sturgis in 1946. On 1 March 1950 she was transferred to the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) as USNS General S. D. Sturgis (T-AP-137). She was later sold for commercial operation under the name SS Green Port, before being scrapped in 1980.

Operational history

General S. D. Sturgis was launched 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 #661) 12 November 1943 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 Miss Rio Ivanhoe; acquired by the Navy 31 March 1944; placed in ferry commission 24 April 1944 for transfer to Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

; decommissioned 25 May 1944; converted to a transport by Kaiser Co., Inc., Vancouver, Washington

Vancouver, Washington

Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington. Incorporated in 1857, it is the fourth largest city in the state with a 2010 census population of 161,791 as of April 1, 2010...

; and placed in full commission at Portland, Oreg., 10 July 1944, Comdr. D. S. Baker in command.

After shakedown calls 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...

 and Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

, General S. D. Sturgis arrived Seattle

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...

 10 August 1944 to embark cargo, troops, and passengers before getting underway 8 days later. She debarked troops and supplies at Honolulu

Honolulu, Hawaii

Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...

 24 August and returned to San Francisco 2 September with hospital patients. From 27 September to 6 November the ship made one round-trip voyage from San Francisco to 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...

 and one from Seattle before returning to San Francisco. She sailed from that port 16 November with troops and supplies bound for the Southwest Pacific. Touching Eniwetok

Enewetak

Enewetak Atoll is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its land area totals less than , surrounding a deep central lagoon, in circumference...

 4 December and arriving at Ulithi

Ulithi

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...

 5 days later, she assumed duty there as a station receiving ship. General S. D. Sturgis carried part of Admiral Halsey

William Halsey, Jr.

Fleet Admiral William Frederick Halsey, Jr., United States Navy, , was a U.S. Naval officer. He commanded the South Pacific Area during the early stages of the Pacific War against Japan...

's Third Fleet staff via Eniwetok to Pearl Harbor, finally reaching Seattle 19 February 1945. From 6 April to 2 June she made a round-trip, troop-carrying voyage from San Francisco to Langemak Bay

Langemak Bay

Langemak Bay is a bay north of Finschhafen, on the north east coast of Papua New Guinea. Langemak Bay saw extensive naval operations in World War II, including a landing beach at the western end of the bay for the embarkation of the 2/24th Australian Infantry Battalion....

 and Hollandia

Jayapura

Jayapura City is the capital of Papua province, Indonesia, on the island of New Guinea. It is situated on Yos Sudarso Bay . Its approximate population in 2002 was 200,000....

, 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...

; and San Pedro

San Pedro Bay (Philippines)

San Pedro Bay is a bay in the Philippines, at the northwest end of Leyte Gulf, about 15 km east-west and 20 km north-south. The bay is bounded on the north and east by Samar and on the east by Leyte Island. It is connected by San Juanico Strait to Carigara Bay of the Samar Sea. The...

, Leyte

Leyte

Leyte is a province of the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is Tacloban City and occupies the northern three-quarters of the Leyte Island. Leyte is located west of Samar Island, north of Southern Leyte and south of Biliran...

 as the Pacific campaigns reached a climax.

She now headed for Europe, departing San Francisco 16 June 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...

. After embarking troops at 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 9 July, she departed the next day to redeploy them in the Pacific. She arrived safely at 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,...

 20 August. After debarking her passengers, she made ready to sail to Tokyo. On 26 August—by this time painted in camouflage measure 32, design 13T—the Sturgis sailed out of Mailla with officers and officials of the United States, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, Canada, Netherlands East Indies, China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, and 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...

. The ship reached Tokyo Bay

Tokyo Bay

is a bay in the southern Kantō region of Japan. Its old name was .-Geography:Tokyo Bay is surrounded by the Bōsō Peninsula to the east and the Miura Peninsula to the west. In a narrow sense, Tokyo Bay is the area north of the straight line formed by the on the Miura Peninsula on one end and on...

 on 31 August; and two days later, the men carried by the Sturgis would be among the few who would witness the historic Japanese surrender ceremonies

Japanese Instrument of Surrender

The Japanese Instrument of Surrender was the written agreement that enabled the Surrender of Japan, marking the end of World War II. It was signed by representatives from the Empire of Japan, the United States of America, the Republic of China, the United Kingdom, the Union of Soviet Socialist...

 aboard . The ship was the only of her kind to be present in Tokyo Bay

Tokyo Bay

is a bay in the southern Kantō region of Japan. Its old name was .-Geography:Tokyo Bay is surrounded by the Bōsō Peninsula to the east and the Miura Peninsula to the west. In a narrow sense, Tokyo Bay is the area north of the straight line formed by the on the Miura Peninsula on one end and on...

 on Victory over Japan Day

Victory over Japan Day

Victory over Japan Day is a name chosen for the day on which the Surrender of Japan occurred, effectively ending World War II, and subsequent anniversaries of that event...

 (2 September 1945), when the Japanese Instrument of Surrender

Japanese Instrument of Surrender

The Japanese Instrument of Surrender was the written agreement that enabled the Surrender of Japan, marking the end of World War II. It was signed by representatives from the Empire of Japan, the United States of America, the Republic of China, the United Kingdom, the Union of Soviet Socialist...

 was signed.

The ship got underway 26 September for Seattle, arriving there 8 October. She then made three round-trip voyages from the West Coast to Japanese ports, supporting occupation troops before departing San Francisco on an around-the-world voyage calling at Manila, Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, Calcutta

Kolkata

Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

, and Port Said

Port Said

Port Said is a city that lies in north east Egypt extending about 30 km along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Suez Canal, with an approximate population of 603,787...

, and arriving New York

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 10 May 1946. She decommissioned 24 May 1946 and was delivered to WSA

War 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....

 for peacetime operation as an Army transport.

Rebuilt to 12,349 gross tons, USAT General S. D. Sturgis made 21 voyages between Germany and the U.S. with displaced person

Displaced person

A displaced person is a person who has been forced to leave his or her native place, a phenomenon known as forced migration.- Origin of term :...

s. Among these refugees was Mrs. Marion Matewosian, a 99-year-old Armenian

Armenians

Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....

 woman, who arrived in New York on 1 October 1949. Matewosian was said, in contemporary news accounts, to be the oldest person to come to the U.S. under the displaced persons program.

In addition to its many trips to the U.S. with displaced persons, General S. D. Sturgis also delivered refugees to Australia, Argentina and Canada, as well. The ship departed Genoa

Genoa

Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....

 on one such mission with 860 displaced persons from Europe and arrived in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

 on 14 May 1948. This voyage was one of almost 150 "Fifth Fleet" voyages by some 40 ships bringing refugees of World War II to Australia. General S. D. Sturgis made a trip, with displaced persons, from Bremerhaven, Germany, at the end of December 1948, to Buenos Aires, Argentina, arriving there on 17 January 1949. She made two more such trips, arriving in Sydney with 843 refugees on 21 May 1949, and with 1,309 on 17 April 1950.

In the midst of these treks, General S. D. Sturgis was reacquired by the Navy 1 March 1950, and was assigned to MSTS. Manned by civilians, she was re-designated T-AP-137, and continued the transportation of people fleeing the aftermath of the war.

On 8 July 1949, USNS General S. D. Sturgis arrived at Boston with 841 displaced persons from Europe (mostly Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 and Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

). On 24 March 1951, General S. D. Sturgis developed a leak on a trip to New York with 884 displaced persons aboard. The ship arrived at New York under her own power two days later. The ship was slated to carry 190 of its passengers on to New Orleans

New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...

, but because of the inspection it was to undergo, transferred them to to continue their journey.

As war broke out in 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...

, General S. D. Sturgis took up the vital job of carrying U.N. troops

United Nations Command (Korea)

The United Nations Command is the unified command structure for the multinational military forces supporting the Republic of Korea during and after the Korean War...

 to and from the Korean fighting. For 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...

 period, she sailed from New York to Bremerhaven

Bremerhaven

Bremerhaven is a city at the seaport of the free city-state of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms an enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the River Weser on its eastern bank, opposite the town of Nordenham...

 and Mediterranean

Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...

 ports, embarking allied troops, and transported them to Pusan

Busan

Busan , formerly spelled Pusan is South Korea's second largest metropolis after Seoul, with a population of around 3.6 million. The Metropolitan area population is 4,399,515 as of 2010. It is the largest port city in South Korea and the fifth largest port in the world...

.

Following the Armistice, the transport rotated Greek

Hellenic Army

The Hellenic Army , formed in 1828, is the land force of Greece.The motto of the Hellenic Army is , "Freedom Stems from Valor", from Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War...

, Turkish

Turkish Army

The Turkish Army or Turkish Land Forces is the main branch of the Turkish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. The modern history of the army began with its formation after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire...

, Ethiopian, and Philippine troops

Armed Forces of the Philippines

The Armed Forces of the Philippines is composed of the Philippine Army, Philippine Navy and Philippine Air Force...

 in Korea, helping to maintain the high state of readiness among U.N. forces in that volatile land. During 1955, the ship made three voyages from New York to Bremerhaven, supporting American troops in Europe. She was placed in reduced operational status at New York 28 May 1955. General S. D. Sturgis was later returned to the Maritime Administration and 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...

, Beaumont, Texas

Beaumont, Texas

Beaumont is a city in and county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, United States, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 118,296 at the 2010 census. With Port Arthur and Orange, it forms the Golden Triangle, a major industrial area on the...

, 22 August 1958, where she remained until 1967.

She was sold at that time to Central Gulf Steamship Corp. of New Orleans, who rebuilt her as a cargo ship. Renamed SS Green Port, she entered commercial service in June 1968. Green Port was laid up in San Francisco in 1979 and was scrapped at Kaohsiung

Kaohsiung

Kaohsiung is a city located in southwestern Taiwan, facing the Taiwan Strait on the west. Kaohsiung, officially named Kaohsiung City, is divided into thirty-eight districts. The city is one of five special municipalities of the Republic of China...

, 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 February 1980

General S. D. Sturgis received three battle stars for Korean War service.

External links

• Image of shipboard newspaper from USNS General S. D. Sturgis (10 July 1951)