_underway_off_the_coast_of_California_(USA)%2c_circa_in_1944.jpg) USSGeneral G. O. Squier (AP-130) underway off the coast ofCalifornia, circa in 1944 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | General G. O. Squier |
| Namesake | George Owen Squier |
| Builder | |
| Laid down | date unknown |
| Launched | 11 November 1942 |
| Acquired | 30 August 1943 |
| Commissioned | 2 October 1943 |
| Decommissioned | 10 July 1946 |
| Renamed | SSPennmar, 27 May 1965 |
| Identification | IMO number: 6413730 |
| Fate | Scrapped (date unknown)[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | General G. O. Squier-classtransport ship |
| Displacement | 9,950 tons (light), 17,250 tons (full) |
| Length | 522 ft 10 in (159.36 m) |
| Beam | 71 ft 6 in (21.79 m) |
| Draft | 24 ft (7.32 m) |
| Propulsion | single-screwsteam turbine with 9,900 shp (7,400 kW) |
| Speed | 17 knots (31 km/h) |
| Capacity | 3,823 troops |
| Complement | 356 (officers and enlisted) |
| Armament |
|
USSGeneral G. O. Squier (AP-130) was the lead ship ofher class oftransport ship for theU.S. Navy inWorld War II. Decommissioned in 1946, she was sold privately in 1965 and renamedSSPennmar, and was eventually scrapped.
General G. O. Squier was launched 11 November 1942 underMaritime Commission contract (MC Hull #653) by theKaiser Co., Inc. inRichmond, California; sponsored by Miss Mary Ann Somervell; acquired 30 August 1943 and commissioned 2 October.
General G. O. Squier made three round-trip, troop-carrying voyages out ofSan Francisco from 29 October 1943 to 30 March 1944 toNouméa;Pearl Harbor,Guadalcanal,Wallis Island, Samoa, Nouméa, andHonolulu, respectively. Underway again from San Francisco 7 April she brought troops to Nouméa andMilne Bay before heading forNorfolk, where she arrived 2 June. On 1 July the ship departed with 3,300 troops forItaly, and debarked them atNaples. Following a voyage thence toOran and back,General G. O. Squier joinedTask Force 87 off Naples 13 August in preparation forOperation Dragoon, the amphibious invasion of Southern France.
Arriving offCap Camarat 15 August, she debarked her troops into waitingLCI's which put them ashore to become another deadly prong thrust deeply intoHitler's "Heartland." The next day she headed for Oran to bring nearly 3,000 troops back to the Cap Camarat beachhead on 30 August.General G. O. Squier returned to New York 26 September with casualties and prisoners of war embarked at Naples.
From 14 October 1944 to 14 September 1945, she made 10 transatlantic, troop-carrying and rotation voyages: 7 fromNew York, 2 from Norfolk, and 1 fromBoston, to ports in the United Kingdom (Plymouth,Southampton, andAvonmouth) and France (Le Havre andMarseilles). Between 20 September 1945 and 18 June 1946, six other round-trip,"Magic-Carpet" voyages out of New York at war's end brought home veterans from the Far East (Karachi,Calcutta, andColombo) and Europe (Le Havre,Leghorn, andBremerhaven).General G. O. Squier reached Norfolk 22 June and decommissioned 10 July 1946.
She was returned to theWSA on 18 July 1946 and entered theNational Defense Reserve Fleet atJames River in Virginia. She was sold to theBethlehem Steel Corp. 7 April 1964, converted to a general cargo ship for Bethlehem's subsidiaryCalmar Line, and renamedPennmar, USCG ON 295108, IMO 6413730, on 27 May 1965. The ship was sold and renamedPenn in 1976, renamedPenny in 1978, and scrapped in 1984.[1][2]
General G. O. Squier was awarded onebattle star for World War II service.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.