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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USAT General W. P. Richardson
ex
 USS General W. P. Richardson (AP-118) (1944 - 1946)

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Juliet - Mike - Alpha
 NJMA
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - American Campaign Medal - Europe-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal
Second Row - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Europe clasp)

USS General W. P. Richardson (AP-118) was manned by the US Coast Guard during World War II
General John Pope Class Transport:
  • Laid down, 2 February 1944, as General R. M. Blatchford, a Maritime Commission type (P2-S2-R2) hull, under Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 676), at Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Kearny, N.J.
  • Renamed General W. P. Richardson, 1 July 1944
  • Launched, 6 August 1944
  • Acquired by the US Navy 31 October 1944
  • Commissioned USS General W. P. Richardson (AP-118), 2 November 1944, at Bayonne, N.J., CAPT. Joseph S. Rosenthal, USCG, in command
  • Decommissioned, 14 February 1946
  • Struck from the Naval Register, date unknown
  • Returned to the Maritime Commission for assignment to the US Army Transportation Service, renamed USAT General W. P. Richardson
  • Returned to the Maritime Commission by the Army, 10 March 1948
  • Commercial Service
  • Chartered by American Export Lines Inc, 6 May 1948, for use as passenger liner, converted at Pascagoula, MS., renamed SS LaGuardia
  • Returned to the Maritime Commission, 1 December 1951
  • Reacquired, date unknown), by the US Army Transportation Service for troop service in Korea
  • Returned to the Maritime Commission in November 1952 for lay up in National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River, Fort Eustis, VA.
  • Bought by Hawaiian Steamship Co. and renamed SS Leilani, 5 February 1957
  • Laid up in San Francisco, 29 December 1958, seized by the Federal Government, 12 May 1959 and put up for auction in June 1959
  • Bought by American President Lines, 25 July 1960, refitted at Seattle and renamed SS President Roosevelt
  • Sold to D & A Chandris in 1970, and renamed SS Atlantis
  • Sold to Ares Shipping Corp. in October 1972 and renamed SS Emerald Seas
  • Later sold to Eastern Steamship
  • Sold to Festival Cruises in 1992 and renamed SS Sapphire Seas
  • Laid up at Piraeus, Greece in October 1994
  • Renamed SS Ocean Explorer 1 in the summer of 1998 for use at Lisbon as one of three Hotel ships for Expo 98, returned for lay up at Eleusis, Greece.
  • Placed in service by World Cruise Co., beginning in November 1999 and taken out of service in May 2000 and laid up at Eleusis, Greece
  • Final Disposition, scrapped in India in 2005
    Specifications:
    Displacement 11,450 t.(lt) 20,175 t.(fl)
    Length 622' 7"
    Beam 75' 6"
    Draft 25' 6"
    Speed 20.6 kts.
    Complement 533
    Troop Accommodations 4,244
    Armament
    four single 5"/38 dual purpose gun mounts
    four quad 1.1" AA gun mounts, replaced by twenty single 20mm AA gun mounts
    Propulsion steam turbines, twin shafts, 17,000hp
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS General W. P. Richardson (AP-118)
    General W P Richardson 24k
    Namesake

    Wilds Preston Richardson, born in Texas 20 March 1861, graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1884 and served on the American frontier and in Alaska. During World War I, he commanded the 155th Depot Brigade, Camp Lee, Va., and later the 78th Infantry Brigade, Camp Beauregard, La. He sailed in August 1918 for France where he led in turn the 78th Infantry Brigade, 39th Division and the 55th Brigade, 28th Division to March 1919. General Richardson participated in the Meuse-Argonne Sector and commanded the A.E.F. in northern Russia, receiving the Distinguished Service Medal for the latter duty. Following his return to the United States in 1919 he served in Georgia, Washington, D.C., and the state of Washington. He died in Washington, D.C., 20 May 1929.
    Photo: Alaska Historical Library    		 Bill Gonyo
    General W P Richardson 109k USS General W. P. Richardson (AP-118) commissioning ceremony at Bayonne, N.J., 2 November 1944. Courtesy, Chuck Ulrich, coordinator/historian AP Transport Group
    General W P Richardson 119k USS General W. P. Richardson (AP-118) underway in 1944. Note camouflage scheme, Measure 32/10T.
    US Navy photo.    		 Courtesy, Chuck Ulrich, coordinator/historian AP Transport Group
    General W P Richardson 62k USS General W. P. Richardson (AP-118) docked at the North Side Pier of 4, Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation.
    Official US Army photo produced by US Army Signal Corps, Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation, 13 January 1945. Photo now in the collections of the Library of Virginia. Image No. C1:2/27/032.    		 The Library of Virginia, US Army Signal Corps Photograph Collection
    USAT General W. P. Richardson
    General W P Richardson 85k USAT General W. P. Richardson arriving at a US port with returning G.I.s, circa 1946, place unknown. Ron Cheshire
    View the General W. P. Richardson (AP-118)
    DANFS history entry located on at the US Naval Historical Center
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S.Navy Memorial Foundation
    Fleet Reserve Association
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office - General W.P. Richardson (AP-118)
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 2 May 2008