- USS General W. F. Hase (AP-146)
USS "General W. F. Hase" (AP-146) 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 generalWilliam Frederick Hase . She was transferred to the U.S. Army as USAT "General W. F. Hase" in 1946. On1 March 1950 she was transferred to theMilitary Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) as USNS "General W. F. Hase" (T-AP-146). She was later sold for commercial operation in 1967,cite web | url = http://www.coltoncompany.com/shipbldg/ussbldrs/wwii/merchantshipbuilders/permanentenumber3.htm | title = Kaiser Company, Inc., Richmond No. 3 Yard, Richmond CA | publisher = Colton Company | date = | accessdate = 2007-11-19 ] before being scrapped in 1985.Operational history
"General W. F. Hase" (AP-146) was launched under a Maritime Commission contract (MC #662)
15 December 1943 by Kaiser Co., Inc., Yard 3,Richmond, California ; sponsored by Mrs. John E. Wood, Jr.; acquired by the Navy and simultaneously placed in a ferry commission22 April 1944 during transfer for conversion to a transport by Kaiser Co., Inc.,Vancouver, Washington ; and placed in full commission atPortland, Oregon ,6 June 1944 , Comdr. W. W. Keller in command.After shakedown out of San Pedro, "General W. F. Hase" departed San Francisco
15 July 1944 with 3,000 troops and $29 million in military currency. After touching atPearl Harbor , she debarked the fighting men at Eniwetok, returning to San Francisco26 August with 2,100 soldiers. Between20 September and1 November the transport steamed out of Seattle, carrying more than 2,000 troops to Pearl Harbor and 2,800 thence to Manus,Admiralty Islands , before returning to San Francisco with 2,500 veterans of theNew Guinea campaign on board. Continuing to support the westward drive of naval forces in the Western Pacific, between23 November and20 April 1945 , she made two round trips out of San Francisco, shuttling troops to New Guinea and thePhilippines and bringing home veterans fromNew Caledonia and Manus.During the next 12 months "General W. F. Hase" made six round-trip voyages, including two circumnavigations of the earth, while deploying troops to and from the United States. Departing San Pedro
9 May , she carried 2,600 troops toMelbourne ,Australia , where she arrived27 May . After steaming to Fremantle, Australia, she reached Calcutta,India ,14 June and embarked 2,500 homebound soldiers. She then sailed for the United States via Ceylon and theSuez Canal and arrived Norfolk20 July . She departed Norfolk5 August for the Mediterranean; and as part of the "Magic-Carpet" Fleet, she embarked more than 3,000 troops atMarseille s,France , before returning to New York27 August . Operating out of New York between1 September and27 December , she sailed twice to Calcutta and back with more than 6,000 troops. On11 January 1946 she again departed New York for Calcutta; and, after embarking 2,900 troops8 February , she steamed viaManila to the West Coast, arriving San Francisco8 March . Between 1 and 15 April she carried 1,000 occupation troops toYokohama , Japan; and on her final "Magic-Carpet" voyage she returned 2,800 veterans to Seattle28 April ."General W. F. Hase" steamed to San Francisco 3 to 4 May decommissioned there
6 June , and, simultaneously, was returned to WSA for use as a transport by the Army Transportation Service.She was reacquired by the Navy
1 March 1950 and assigned to duty with MSTS. Manned by a civilian crew, she operated out of San Francisco, carrying more than 75,000 troops and their combat cargo to the Far East in support of theKorean War . Between 1950 and 1953 she made 19 round-trip voyages to Japan and Korea, and she returned to San Francisco from her final Far East deployment29 August 1953 . Towed to San Diego in June 1954, she was placed out of service in reserve in July and remained inactive until returned to the Maritime Administration8 January 1960 . She was berthed in theNational Defense Reserve Fleet at Suisun Bay, California until 1969, at which time she was sold private. The ship was scrapped in Taiwan in 1985."General W. F. Hase" received eight
battle star s for Korean war service.References
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Further reading
* In this memoir, the author recounts his experience as a POW in the Korean War, which includes his return on USNS "General W. F. Hase".
External links
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* Sehnert compares his Korean War experience on USNS "General H. F. Hase" with a 2004 cruise on MS "Oosterdam".
* [http://matt-darby.com/ken_helmerick_journal.pdf Kenneth "Bud" Helmerick (Firefighter, USS Hase, 1943-46) Journal]
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