USS Republic (AP-33)

USS "Republic" (AP-33) was a troop transport that served with the US Navy during World War II. In World War I she served with the Navy as USS "President Grant" (ID-3014) before being turned over to the Army and named "Republic".

The third ship named for Ulysses S. Grant was the former SS "President Grant" which was built in 1907 by Harland and Wolff, Ltd. of Belfast, Ireland for the Hamburg-American Packet Steamship Company. After several years of trans-Atlantic passenger service, she was interned at New York City in 1914 and seized there on 6 April 1917 when the United States entered World War I.

World War I

Turned over to the Navy, she was commissioned USS "President Grant" (SP-3014) on 2 August 1917, Comdr. J. P. Morton in command. During her operations as a troop transport she made sixteen round trips between New York and ports of France, carrying a total of 40,104 servicemen on her eastbound passage, and a total of 37,025 servicemen on her westbound returns to New York.

Between the wars

"President Grant" was transferred to the Army 6 October 1919. During the period January to November 1920, she served as the United States Army Transport "Republic" and made two voyages repatriating Czechoslovak troops from Siberia to Trieste. After a trip to France, she was delivered to the USSR by the Army in March 1921. Until 1924 she lay at Norfolk, Virginia and then was placed on North Atlantic passenger service with United States Lines.

In 1931 she reverted to Army control as a troopship. After alterations, USAT "Republic" made three trips to San Francisco, Hawaii, and Manila. She later made two visits to China and one to Japan. In 1932 Far Eastern ports were excluded and she was confined to a regular New York-Honolulu run until June 1941.

USAT "Republic" was again taken over by the Navy and commissioned as USS "Republic" (AP-33) 22 July 1941 Comdr. G. Clark in command. Her armament consisted of one 5" and four 3" mounts. After a crossing from New York to Iceland, "Republic" sailed for San Francisco and in November left for the Southwest Pacific.

World War II

From December 1941 to February 1942 she visited the Fiji Islands and Brisbane and Sydney, Australia. Between March and November 1942 she served on the San Francisco-Honolulu run, completing a total of seven voyages. During 1943 and 1944 "Republic" operated out of San Francisco, transporting troops and supplies to Honolulu and the Southwest Pacific. She called at Fiji, Samoa, Noumea, Guadalcanal, Sydney, Funafuti, Hollandia and other ports.

"Republic" returned home in early 1945 and decommissioned at New Orleans 27 January 1945. She was struck from the Navy Register 2 February 1945 and turned over to the Army for conversion to a hospital ship, designated USAHS "Republic".

Postwar service

"Republic" was overhauled by the Waterman Steamship Company at Mobile, Alabama until August. In September 1945 she proceeded to Los Angeles where she was altered before departing for Honolulu. The Army cancelled her designation as a hospital ship while she was enroute to Manila in February 1946. As USAT "Republic", she embarked war veterans at Tacloban and Leyte bringing them back to San Francisco in late March 1946.

In May 1949, she was decommissioned by the Army Transport Service and returned to the Maritime Commission, after which she was laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Olympia, Washington. She was sold for scrap to the Bethlehem Steel Company on 11 March 1952.

References

* [http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/auxil/ap33.txt "Republic" AP-33] - DANFS Online.
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/22/22033.htm AP-33 "Republic] , Navsource Online.
*DANFS

External links

[http://drfaltin.org/archive.htm Pictorial collection documenting the trans-Siberian trek of the Czech legion during the Russian Revolution] .