MS Emerald Seas
USS General W. P. Richardson (AP-118)
in camouflage paint circa 1944 |
|
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
|
|
| Name: | USS General W. P. Richardson |
| Namesake: | US Army General Wilds Preston Richardson (1861–1929) |
| Builder: | Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock |
| Laid down: | 2 February 1944 |
| Launched: | 6 August 1944 |
| Sponsored by: | Mrs Brebon B. Somervell |
| Christened: | General R. M. Blatchford |
| Acquired: | 5 April 1944 |
| Commissioned: | 15 April 1944 |
| Decommissioned: | 14 February 1946 |
| Renamed: | General W. P. Richardson, La Guardia, Leilani, President Roosevelt, Atlantis, Emerald Seas, Sapphire Seas, Ocean Explorer I |
| Identification: |
|
| Fate: | Scrapped in India, 2005 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | General John Pope-class transport |
| Displacement: | 11,450 tons (lt) 20,175 t (fl) |
| Length: | 622 feet 7 inches (189.76 m) |
| Beam: | 75 feet 6 inches (23.01 m) |
| Draft: | 25 feet 6 inches (7.77 m) |
| Installed power: | 17,000 shp |
| Propulsion: | 2 steam turbines, reduction gearing, twin screw |
| Speed: | 20.6 to 21 knots (38.2 to 38.9 km/h) (sources vary) |
| Capacity: | 4,244 |
| Complement: | 533 |
| Armament: | 4 x single 5"/38 caliber dual purpose guns, 4 x quad 1.1" guns, replaced by 20 x single 20mm guns |
USS General W. P. Richardson (AP-118) was a troopship that served with the United States Navy in World War II. She was later transferred to the United States Army and served briefly during the Korean War as USAT General W. P. Richardson before entering commercial service.
AP-118 was laid down under United States Maritime Commission contract 2 February 1944 by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company of Kearny, New Jersey; named General R. M. Blatchford (AP-118) on 15 April 1944; renamed General W. P. Richardson (AP 118) on 1 July 1944; launched 6 August 1944; acquired by the Navy 31 October 1944, and commissioned at Bayonne, New Jersey, 2 November 1944, Captain Joseph S. Rosenthal, USCG, in command.
General W. P. Richardson sailed from Boston 10 December 1944 with over 5,000 fighting men and, after delivering them to Southampton, England, 21 December, returned to New York 4 January 1945 with troops and casualties. Ten days later the busy ship got underway from Newport News, Virginia, with 5,000 soldiers bound for Naples, debarking them 25 January and returning to Newport News 9 February with rotation troops and casualties. Underway again 18 February with 5,000 more soldiers she debarked them at Naples 1 March and subsequently carried 5,500 UK troops thence to Marseille, returning to Naples 9 March to embark 4,600 homeward-bound US casualties and troops who were delivered safely at Boston 21 March.
General W. P. Richardson returned to Le Havre in April with 2,500 men and carried over 1,000 liberated American prisoners of war from France, and 2,900 troops and casualties from Southampton, home to New York on 28 April 1945. Following a troop-carrying run from New York to Naples and Trinidad and back, she sailed from New York to Southampton, putting in at Boston 26 June with 4,300 wounded and other troops. Through the summer and fall of 1945 the transport made four round-trip voyages from Boston to France, two to Le Havre and two to Marseilles to help ensure an even flow of men and supplies from the New World to the Old.
...
Wikipedia