USS Republic (AP-33)

USAT Republic at Hunters Point, post-World War II
History
Name:	USS Republic (AP-33)
Namesake:	Serbia, Ulysses S. Grant, James Buchanan
Owner:	International Mercantile Marine Co. Hamburg America Line U.S. Navy U.S. Army U.S. Shipping Board United States Lines
Builder:	Harland and Wolff, Ireland
Yard number:	354
Launched:	19 February 1903
Christened:	SS Servian
Completed:	1903
Acquired:	Seized from Germany, 6 April 1917
Maiden voyage:	14 September 1907, Hamburg–Boulogne-sur-Mer–Southampton–New York
In service:	Inactive: 1903 – 1907 Commercial: 1907 – Aug 1914 Inactive: Aug 1914 – Apr 1917 Navy: 2 Aug 1917 – Oct 1919 Army: 6 Oct 1919 – Mar 1921 Inactive: Mar 1921 – 1923 Commercial: 1924 – 1931 Army: 1931 – Jul 1941 Navy: 22 Jul 1941 – 27 Jan 1945 Army: Feb 1946 – May 1949
Renamed:	SS President Grant (1907) USS President Grant (ID-3014) (1917) USAT Republic (1919) USS President Buchanan (1921) USS Republic (AP-33) (1941) USAHS/USAT Republic (1945)
Struck:	From the Navy: 2 February 1945
Fate:	Sold for scrap, 11 March 1952
General characteristics
Displacement:	33,000 long tons (33,530 t)
Length:	599 ft (183 m)
Beam:	68 ft 2 in (20.78 m)
Draft:	34 ft (10 m)
Propulsion:	Steam turbine
Speed:	14.5 knots (26.9 km/h; 16.7 mph)
Complement:	712
Armament:	Jul - Aug 1941 1 x 5"/51 caliber surface gun 4 × 3"/23 caliber antiaircraft gun 2 × 1-pounder guns 2 × .30 Lewis machine guns October 1941 : 1 x 5"/51 caliber surface gun 4 × 3"/50 caliber antiaircraft gun 12 x 20 mm guns

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 ship was renamed the President Buchanan in 1921 before reverting to Republic in 1924.

Originally christened as the SS Servian, she was built in 1903 by Harland and Wolff, Ltd. of Belfast for the Wilson & Furness-Leyland Line, a subsidiary of International Mercantile Marine Co. spearheaded by J.P. Morgan. After plans for a North Atlantic service collapsed, she spent four years at anchor in the Musgrave Channel in Belfast.

After being purchased by the Hamburg-American Packet Steamship Company (Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Aktien-Gesellschaft or HAPAG) in 1907, it was renamed the SS President Grant, the third ship named for Ulysses S. Grant. In August 1914, after seven years of trans-Atlantic passenger service, she took refuge at New York City when the outbreak of World War I made the high seas unsafe for German merchant ships. She was interned at Hoboken, New Jersey and remained inactive for nearly three years until the United States entered the war in April 1917. The ship was seized when the United States officially declared war against Germany.

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.

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 Vladivostok to Trieste. After a trip to France, she was delivered to the United States Shipping Board (USSB) 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.