- USS General T. H. Bliss (AP-131)
USS "General T. H. Bliss" (AP-131) was a sclass|General G. O. Squier|transport ship for the U.S. Navy in
World War II . She was named in honor of U.S. Army general Tasker Howard Bliss. Decommissioned in 1946, she was sold privately in 1964 and renamed SS "Seamar", and was scrapped in 1979.Operational history
"General T. H. Bliss" was laid down under a Maritime Commission contract
22 May 1942 by Kaiser Co., Inc., Yard 3,Richmond, California ; launched19 December 1942 ; sponsored by Mrs. Eleanor Bliss Knopf; acquired by the Navy3 November 1943 ; and commissioned24 February 1944 , Captain Burton Davis in command.After shakedown, "General T. H. Bliss" embarked more than 3,600 sailors and marines, sailed from San Francisco
27 March 1944 forNew Caledonia , and subsequently returned to San Francisco1 May with veterans embarked atEfate andEspiritu Santo . Underway again10 May , she carried 3,500 soldiers toOro Bay ,New Guinea , before sailing via thePanama Canal to New York, where she put in4 July with over 2,000 men and patients embarked at Balboa.From
28 July 1944 to4 September 1945 , "General T. H. Bliss" made 11, round-trip transatlantic, troop-carrying voyages (2 from Newport, 3 from Boston, and 6 from New York) to ports in theUnited Kingdom (Avonmouth ,Plymouth , andSouthhampton );France (Marseille s andLe Havre );Italy (Naples ); and North Africa (Oran ). She sailed from Boston11 September 1945 forKarachi ,India , on her first "Magic-Carpet" voyage and returned to New York23 October carrying veterans of the Pacific fiighting. Following a similar voyage from New York to Calcutta and back during November and December, she made a round-the-world voyage from New York eastward to Calcutta and thence viaGuam to San Francisco, where she arrived15 March 1946 . Departing San Francisco5 April , she carried occupation troops toYokohama ,Japan ; then steamed back to the United States, arriving Seattle6 May ."General T. H. Bliss" decommissioned at Seattle
28 June , was returned to the WSA2 July , and was placed intheNational Defense Reserve Fleet atOlympia, Washington .She was sold to Bethlehem Steel Corp. of
Wilmington, Delaware in April 1964 and renamed "Seamar". She was scrapped in 1979.References
*
ee also
*, a World War II transport ship sunk
13 November 1942 by "U-130" off the coast ofMorocco .External links
*
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.