USS General George M. Randall (AP-115)

USS "General George M. Randall" (AP-115) was a "General John Pope" class troop transport which served with the United States Navy in World War II and the postwar era. She was named after Major General George Morton Randall, an American Civil War hero, and veteran of the Indian wars of the 1880s and the Philippines in the early 1900s.

"General George M. Randall" was launched at the Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Company, in Kearny, New Jersey, as Maritime Commission hull 673 on 30 January 1944 under a Maritime Commission contract; sponsored by Mrs. Robert A. Lovett, wife of the Assistant Secretary of War for Air; acquired and simultaneously commissioned on 15 April 1944, with Captain Carl C. von Paulsen, USCG, in command. She left the yard on April 25, 1944, for shakedown in Chesapeake Bay. The ship was manned by a Coast Guard crew during the war.

World War II

"General George M. Randall" sailed from Norfolk, Virginia, on 23 May 1944 with nearly 5,000 troops and casuals aboard, and sailing through the Panama Canal, put in at Bombay, India, on 5 July via Panama and Australia. Underway again 6 days later, she returned to San Pedro, California, on 12 August to debark over 2,000 wounded veterans. She made two more round-trip voyages from San Pedro to Bombay, via Melbourne, Australia, from 30 August 1944 to 28 February 1945.

Following a round-trip voyage from San Francisco, California, to Ulithi and back, the ship stood out under the Golden Gate on 8 June 1945 for Norfolk, arriving there on 20 June. She sailed from that port for Marseille, France, where she arrived on 8 July. There she embarked troops for redeployment in the Pacific theater. She departed on 10 July, passing through the Panama Canal for the third time, with the destination of Okinawa.

After hostilities

When she got to the Pacific area, the war had ended, so she was directed to offload her troops at Manila before proceeding to San Pedro, California, where she arrived on 21 September. As part of the "Magic-Carpet" fleet, "General George M. Randall" made six voyages from San Francisco and San Diego, California to the Far East, calling at Japan, China, Okinawa, and the Philippines. The first two of these trips were to re-patriate Japanese diplomats and their families back to Japan. Her Coast Guard crew was removed on 31 January 1946, and she was returned to Navy control.

Peacetime duties

She sailed from Pearl Harbor on 1 December 1946 for the east coast; and after undergoing peacetime alterations at Philadelphia, stood out of that port on 2 April 1947. Reaching San Francisco on 25 April, the transport began a series of shuttle runs between West Coast ports and the Far East, completing six voyages to Guam, two to China and Japan, and two to Hawaii before she was assigned to the Military Sea Transportation Service (now Military Sealift Command) in October 1949.

Korean War

As an MSTS ship, "General George M. Randall" made scheduled runs between the West Coast and the Orient until fighting erupted in Korea in the summer of 1950. She participated in the amphibious assault at Inchon which routed the North Korean Army and forced Communist evacuation of South Korea. After hordes of Chinese Communist troops poured into Korea and trapped American forces, she served in the evacuation of Hungnam, which saved the embattled G.I.'s enabling them to return to the fight.

She moored at New York, New York, on 26 May 1951, and made four voyages from New York to Bremerhaven and Southampton before returning to the Pacific. On 11 March 1951, "General George M. Randall" departed Yokohama, Japan, with the bodies of 52 men, the first Korean War dead to be returned to the United States, including Major General Bryant E. Moore, who had commanded the IX Corps. Armed Services honor guards were in attendance at the departure, as was an Army Band, and was heavily covered by the press. The ship arrived at San Francisco, also carrying 1500 officers and men of the 1st Marine Division being rotated home for 30 day leave. She then returned to Yokohama on 24 October.

Return to peacetime duties

For the next 3 years this far-ranging ship transported men and equipment across the Pacific between West Coast ports and Japan, Okinawa, and Formosa. In 1955 she shifted operations to the East Coast, arriving New York on 8 April 1955 for shuttle runs from New York to Bremerhaven, insuring the continuous flow of troops, dependents, and supplies to American forces in Europe. During first 3 months of 1957 she cruised the Caribbean, calling at Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Jamaica before resuming her North Atlantic transport runs out of New York 15 April. In 1958, the "General George M. Randall" was the ship that carried then-Private Elvis Presley to his first assignment in Germany.

Lebanon Crisis

These varied duties were highlighted by "General George M. Randall's" role in the 1958 Lebanon crisis. Embarking 1,255 troops of the 35th Tank Battalion at Bremerhaven, and 1,001 others at La Pallice, France, she put them ashore at Beirut, Lebanon, the morning of 3 August 1958, helping to stabilize that strategic country in this swift followup by sea of the 6th Fleet's powerful and effective action with aircraft carrier planes, surface warships, and amphibious landing of Marines. "General George M. Randall" then returned to New York, arriving there on 16 August.

Returning to her New York-Bremerhaven schedule, "General George M. Randall" visited Spain, Turkey, Greece, and Italy in 1959, and called at ports in Iceland and the Caribbean Islands during the next year as well.

Decommission

On her last voyage, she cast off from Rota, Spain, and moored at New York on 13 May 1961. "General George M. Randall" steamed thence to Bayonne, New Jersey, where she was decommissioned on 2 June 1961; she was towed to Norfolk on 12 June, and transferred to the United States Maritime Administration National Defense Reserve Fleet on 16 August, at James River, Virginia.

The ship was struck from the Naval Register on 1 September 1962. On 8 May 1975, she was sold for scrap for $687,000, and towed to Taiwan for scrapping.

References

* [http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/auxil/ap115.htm "General George M. Randall" AP-115] - DANFS Online.
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/22/22115.htm USS "General George M. Randall" (AP-115)] , Navsource Online.
* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814488,00.html Cargo from Korea] - "Time" magazine.
*DANFS