- USS General A. E. Anderson (AP-111)
USS "General A. E. Anderson" (AP-111) was a
troop transport that served with theUnited States Navy inWorld War II and theKorean War ."General A. E. Anderson" was launched 2 May 1943 under a
Maritime Commission contract by theFederal Shipbuilding & Drydock Company ofKearny, New Jersey ; acquired by the Navy 25 August 1943; placed in partial commission the same day for transfer toBaltimore for conversion to a transport by theMaryland Drydock Company ; and placed in full commission at Baltimore 5 October 1943, Cap. W. E. Miller in command.World War II
From 25 October 1943 to 21 March 1944 "General A. E. Anderson" made four round-trip transport voyages out of
Norfolk, Virginia toCasablanca ,French Morocco . Underway again 26 March 1944, she returned toNorth Africa and touched atGourock ,Scotland , before steaming toBermuda , where British censors and their families embarked for passage to New York. The ship reached New York 7 May, and following a round-trip voyage toBelfast ,Northern Ireland , she stood out of Norfolk 29 June forBombay , where her troops debarked 7 August. "General A. E. Anderson" returned toSan Pedro, California , 11 September 1944 and subsequently made another long round-trip voyage thence to Bombay viaAustralia , returning 9 December.Until the summer of 1945 the busy ship made two roundtrip voyages from
San Francisco toHollandia andLeyte , sailing from Leyte 24 [?] to reach Norfolk 22 July 1945.After hostilities
"General A. E. Anderson" then commenced troop rotation and Magic Carpet duties. From 8 August 1945 to 15 April 1946 she made eight
transatlantic voyages toFrance (Marseilles ,Le Havre ),England (Southampton ), andIndia (Karachi ). Of these active voyages, six were from New York, and one each from Norfolk andBoston .The ship stood out of Norfolk 9 July 1946 for San Francisco, arriving 24 July, and commenced a pattern of troop carrying and supply runs from West Coast ports to
China ,Japan , thePhilippines , andGuam .Korean War
Assigned to MSTS in October 1949, she continued these duties until war flared again in the
Far East whenCommunist troops crossed the38th Parallel to invade theRepublic of Korea . The Navy moved quickly to bring American force into action to halt and push back theNorth Korea ns. "General A. E. Anderson" embarked the men and equipment of Marine Air Group 33 atTerminal Island, California , and headed for Japan. She reachedKobe 31 July 1950 with these Marine fliers who helped save the day for embattledSouth Korea n and American ground forces as they struggled to maintain a foothold at the southern tip of the beleagueredKorean peninsula .Returning to San Francisco in August, she embarked 1,800 men of the
11th Airborne Division and brought them toMoji , Japan, 20 September.Throughout the remainder of the Korean conflict "General A. E. Anderson" followed her familiar pattern of transport runs from West Coast ports to Japan and Korea as she supported
United Nations forces in Korea.Decommission
Thereafter she continued identical peacetime operations until she decommissioned at
Oakland, California , 10 November 1958. After being returned to theMaritime Administration she entered theNational Defense Reserve Fleet atSuisun Bay, California . She was sold for scrap on 14 November 1986 for the sum of $1,177,200 and scrapped inTaiwan in July 1987.Awards
"General A. E. Anderson" received one
battle star for Korean War service.References
* [http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/auxil/ap111.htm "General A. E. Anderson" AP-111] - DANFS Online.
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/22/22111.htm USS "General A. E. Anderson" (AP-111)] , Navsource Online.External links
* http://www.ussgeneralanderson.org/
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