Please report any broken links or trouble you might come across to the Webmaster. Please take a moment to let us know so that we can correct any problems and make your visit as enjoyable and as informative as possible.

NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USNS Henry Gibbins (T-AP-183)
ex
 USAT Henry Gibbins (1943 - 1950)


International Radio Call Sign:
November - Delta - Whiskey - India
 NDWI
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - American Campaign Medal
Bottom Row - Europe-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal - National Defense Service Medal
  • Laid down, 23 August 1941, as SS Biloxi, a Maritime Commission type (C3-1N-P&C) hull under Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 164), at Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp., Pascagoula, MS.
  • Launched, 11 November 1942
  • Transferred to the US Army Transportation Corps, and commissioned USAT Henry Gibbins, 27 February 1943
  • Transferred to the US Navy, 1 March 1950 and placed in service with the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) as USNS Henry Gibbins (T-AP-183)
  • Placed out of service, 2 December 1959
  • Struck from the Naval Register, date unknown
  • Transferred by the Maritime Commission in 1959 to the New York Maritime Academy at Fort Schuyler, N.Y. for use as a training vessel and renamed TS Empire State IV
  • Transferred to the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in the fall of 1973 for use as a training vessel and renamed TS Bay State III
  • Damaged by ice in the winter of 1976-77 in Buzzards Bay and Cape Cod Canal suffering serious damage to her hull plates
  • Subsequently condemned by the US Coast Guard and returned to the Maritime Administration (MARAD) in 1978 for disposal
  • Final Disposition, scrapped in 1983 after suffering an engine room fire
    Specifications:
    Displacement 10,418 t.
    Length 489'
    Beam 69'6"
    Draft 27'4"
    Speed 16.5kts.
    Troop Accommodations 1,976
    Armament
    four 3"/50 dual purpose guns in tubs forward and aft
    Propulsion
    one turbine engine
    two Foster Wheeler "K" type boilers, 450 psi and 700°F.
    single propeller 8,500 shp
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    USAT Henry Gibbins
    Henry Gibbins 14k
    Namesake

    General Gibbins was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, on May 20, 1877. His first connection with the Army came in May 1898, when he joined the Third Tennessee Infantry, U. S. Volunteers, and served with it, as First Lieutenant, until January 31, 1899. His next service was as Second Lieutenant and First Lieutenant with the Thirty-First Infantry, U. S. Volunteers, from July 15, 1899, to June 18, 1901. On September 18, 1901, General Gibbins accepted an appointment in the Regular Army as Second Lieutenant in the Tenth Cavalry. From November, 1901, to June, 1902, he served with the Tenth Cavalry in Cuba and Nebraska. For the succeeding seven years, until September, he served with the Ninth Cavalry in Washington, Kansas, the Philippine Islands and Wyoming. In September, 1909, General Gibbins entered the Mounted Service School and graduated the following August. For more than two years, from September, 1910, to December, 1912, he was on the faculty of the University of Tennessee as Professor of Military Science and Tactics. His next service was with the Ninth Cavalry in Arizona from January, 1913, to June, 1915. From July, 1915, to April, 1916, he attended the Army School of the Line. Upon graduation, Gibbins joined the Seventh Cavalry Regiment, to which he had been transferred on November 15,1915, and served with it during the Punitive Expedition in Mexico. He returned to the United States in January, 1917, and was assigned to duty as Adjutant at the United States Disciplinary Barracks, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. In December of the same year he was sent to Newport News, Virginia, to command the Animal Embarkation Depot until October, 1918. In October, 1918, he served with the Remount Division, Purchase, Storage and Traffic. General Staff Corps. This assignment lasted until March, 1919, when he was ordered to Keogh Quartermaster Intermediate Depot (former Remount Depot) as Commanding Officer. In November, 1922, he was recalled to Washington as Executive Officer of the Army War College, which position he filled until August, 1925. From October 10, 1925 to June 2, 1927, General Gibbins served as Post Quartermaster, Presidio of Monterey, California. From there he was sent to Hawaii, where he served as Quartermaster, Hawaiian Department, until October, 1927; then as Assistant to the Department Quartermaster to August, 1929, and as Quartermaster Supply Officer, Hawaiian General Depot, to June, 1930. From September 1930 to September 1934, General Gibbins was assigned to duty as Executive Officer, Office of The Quartermaster General, He then served with the Organized Reserves of the Ninth Corps Area. On April 1, 1936, Gibbins became Quartermaster General. For more than a year prior he has served as Chief of the Transportation Division. Major General Gibbins died on April 8, 1941 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Section 2 East, Site E-134.
    Text and photo: U.S. Army Quartermaster Museum    		 Bill Gonyo
    Henry Gibbins 163k USAT Henry Gibbins underway, date and location unknown. Original photo printed as a postcard. Tommy Trampp
    Henry Gibbins 81k USAT Henry Gibbins underway, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo.    		 .
    Henry Gibbins 92k USAT Henry Gibbins underway, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo    		 William Zarkas, Retired MSC Boatswain
    President, MSC Retiree Association
    Henry Gibbins 46k USAT Henry Gibbins underway, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo    		 Courtesy Mass. Maritime Academy
    Henry Gibbins 55k Overhead view of USAT Henry Gibbins at anchor, date and location unknown.
    Australian War Memorial, Photo No. 302621    		 Mike Green
    USNS Henry Gibbins (T-AP-183)
    Henry Gibbins
    092218325    		 307k USNS Henry Gibbins (T-AP-183) underway, date and location unknown.
    U.S. Navy MSTS photoM    		 Nicholas Tiberio
    Henry Gibbins 81k USNS Henry Gibbins (T-AP-183) shipboard newspaper "Gibbins Express", 22 December 1953. Al Heiden
    Henry Gibbins 384k USNS Henry Gibbins (T-AP-183) underway in heavy seas, location unknown, circa 1956. Gerhard Mueller-Debus
    TS Empire State IV
    Henry Gibbons 214k TS Empire State IV departing the New York Maritime Academy at Fort Schuyler, N.Y. in June 1960 on the ships' first cruise as the training ship Empire State IV.
    Photo courtesy New York Maritime Academy    		 Gerhard Mueller-Debus
    Henry Gibbons 751k TS Empire State IV approaching the Throggs Neck Bridge (under construction) near New York State Maritime College, circa June, 1960. Frank R. Liese
    Henry Gibbons 227k TS Empire State IV passing under the Throggs Neck bridge (under construction) in June 1960 while outbound to sea during the ships' first cruise as the training ship Empire State IV. Frank R. Liese
    Henry Gibbons 247k TS Empire State IV moored at Dublin Ireland, circa July 1960. Photo by Frank R. Liese
    Henry Gibbons 216k TS Empire State IV moored at Amsterdam, Netherlands, circa July 1960. Photo by Frank R. Liese
    Henry Gibbons 177k TS Empire State IV shares a Mediterranean mooring site with the barquantine, Palinuro, at Naples Italy, circa July, !960. The tall ship Palinuro is an Italian Naval training vessel, still in service fifty two years after this photo was taken. Photo by Frank R. Liese
    Henry Gibbons 195k TS Empire State IV tied up at the quay wall, Copenhagen, Denmark, circa July 1961. Photo by Frank R. Liese
    Henry Gibbons 153k TS Empire State IV at anchor, Oslo Norway, circa July or August 1962. Photo by Frank R. Liese
    Henry Gibbons 140k TS Empire State IV moored at moored in Malaga Spain, circa July 1962. Photo by Frank R. Liese
    Henry Gibbons 153k TS Empire State IV moored to buoy at Villefranche, France, circa July 1962. Photo by Frank R. Liese
    Henry Gibbons 963k Frank Liese in the boiler room of TS Empire State IV changing burners, circa June 1960. The ship was equipped with two Foster Wheeler "K" type boilers operating at 450 psi and 700 F. The burner system was Todd return flow. Frank R. Liese
    Henry Gibbons 133k TS Empire State IV on Long Island Sound, shortly after departing the New York State Maritime College, circa June 1961. Frank R. Liese
    Henry Gibbons 227k TS Empire State IV on Long Island Sound, returning the New York State Maritime College, circa August 1962. Frank R. Liese
    Henry Gibbons 240k TS Empire State IV anchored at Genoa, Italy in July 1962. Photo by Carlo Martinelli
    Henry Gibbons 70k TS Empire State IV moored pierside, Southampton, England, date unknown. Photo by Carlo Martinelli
    Henry Gibbons 53k Ex-USNS Henry Gibbins (T-AP-183) underway as the New York State Maritime Academy's TS Empire State IV on the River Weser, leaving Bremen, Germany in July 1971. Photo by Gerhard Mueller-Debus
    USNS Henry Gibbins (T-AP-183)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    MARAD Vessel History Database
    The Gibbins Express, 22 December 1953
    Aboard USAT Henry Gibbins 1946
    Back To The Navsource Photo Archives Main Page Back To The US Navy Service Ship Photo Index Back To The US Navy Transport (AP) Photo Index Back To The US Army Transport Photo Index
    Comments, Suggestions, E-mail Webmaster.
    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History
    Last Updated 16 December 2022