USS General J. C. Breckinridge (AP-176)

USS "General J. C. Breckinridge" (AP-176) was a troop transport that served with the United States Navy in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. In October 1949 she was redesignated T-AP-176 but retained her Navy crew.

USS "General J. C. Breckinridge", a "General John Pope" class troop transport, was built under Maritime Commission contract by the Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Company at Kearny, New Jersey.

World War II

She was commissioned with a U.S. Coast Guard crew in June 1945 and was en route to Marseilles, France, on her first operational voyage when the Japanese surrender ended World War II.

Peacetime service

The transport made four more voyages to France to bring troops home, then was transferred to the Pacific, arriving at San Francisco in January 1946. A Navy crew replaced her Coast Guard crew there in February, probably after she was selected as one of six ships of her class to be retained in the postwar commissioned fleet.

Following five trans-Pacific voyages, between October 1946 and January 1947 "General J. C. Breckinridge" was then converted at Philadelphia for peacetime employment, with special facilities for military dependents. She retained her armament but lost some of her lifeboats. "Breckinridge" then returned to the Pacific where she maintained a busy schedule of voyages between the west coast and numerous points in the Western Pacific.

In October 1949 all the ships in the Naval Transportation Service were reassigned to the newly-created Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS). As a ship operationally subordinate to MSTS she was redesignated T-AP-176, but because she was a commissioned vessel with a Navy, not civilian, crew, "General J. C. Breckinridge" retained the designation "USS" instead of becoming "USNS."

Korean War

In July 1950, immediately after the outbreak of the Korean War, "General J. C. Breckinridge" was reconverted to a troop transport at San Francisco and in August carried troops from Seattle to Yokosuka, Japan. She was diverted from her return voyage to support the assault on Inchon, where she arrived with fresh troops the day after the landing. In November 1950 she assisted in the evacuation of Wonsan, and in December she helped evacuate Hungnam.

"General J. C. Breckinridge" made two more troop voyages during the fighting in Korea and then returned to regular MSTS transport duty, carrying both military and civilian passengers throughout the Pacific area.

In 1955 or 1956 she was again modified, losing her armament and receiving additional lifeboats. She remained an active part of the MSTS nucleus fleet as one of its few commissioned ships until December 1965, when she was inactivated and turned over to the Maritime Administration for layup in its reserve fleet.

Vietnam War

Some sources record the ship as having played a small role in the Vietnam War during 1965 and earning a battle star there.

Decommission

"General J. C. Breckinridge" was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register and permanently transferred to the Maritime Administration in December 1966. The Maritime Administration sold her in August 1987 to a Japanese firm for scrapping.

Awards

"General J. C. Breckinridge" earned four battle stars for Korean War service and one for Vietnam War service.

References

* [http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/auxil/ap176.htm "General J. C. Breckinridge" AP-176] - DANFS Online.
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/22/22176.htm USS "General J. C. Breckinridge" (AP-176)] , Navsource Online.
*DANFS