_in_San_Francisco_Bay%2c_California_(USA)%2c_circa_1945-46_(NH_83398).jpg) USSGeneral O. H. Ernst (AP-133) inSan Francisco Bay, California, circa 1945-1946 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | General O. H. Ernst |
| Namesake | Oswald Herbert Ernst |
| Builder | |
| Laid down | 29 June 1942 |
| Launched | 14 April 1943 |
| Acquired | 31 March 1944 |
| Commissioned |
|
| Decommissioned |
|
| In service | USATGeneral O. H. Ernst, 1946 |
| Out of service | date unknown |
| Renamed |
|
| Identification | IMO number: 6413754 |
| Fate | Scrapped 1980[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 | 26 ft 6 in (8.08 m) |
| Propulsion | single-screwsteam turbine with 9,900 shp (7,400 kW) |
| Speed | 17 knots (31 km/h) |
| Capacity | 3,343 troops |
| Complement | 426 (officers and enlisted) |
| Armament |
|
USSGeneral O. H. Ernst (AP-133) was aGeneral G. O. Squier-classtransport ship for theU.S. Navy inWorld War II. She was named in honor ofU.S. Army generalOswald Herbert Ernst. She was decommissioned in 1946 and transferred to theArmy Transport Service asUSATGeneral O. H. Ernst. She was sold privately in 1964 and renamedSSCalmar, and was scrapped in 1980.[1]
General O. H. Ernst was laid down underMaritime Commission contract 29 June 1942 byKaiser Co., Inc., Yard 3,Richmond, California; launched 14 April 1943; sponsored by Mrs. L. M. Giannini; acquired by the Navy 31 March 1944; commissioned 22 April 1944 transferred toPortland, Oregon for conversion to a transport byCommercial Iron Works; decommissioned 13 May 1944; and recommissioned 15 July 1944.
General O. H. Ernst sailed fromSeattle 27 August 1944; and, after embarking more than 3,000 fighting men atHonolulu, she transported troops toGuadalcanal,Manus, andUlithi before returning toSan Diego 4 December. Underway again 10 days later, she carried troops to Guadalcanal and promptly returned to the West Coast, reaching Seattle 20 January 1945. Following a round-trip voyage during February to Honolulu and back to San Francisco, the busy transport made a round-trip voyage between 17 March and 22 May, carrying troops from San Francisco to theNew Hebrides,New Caledonia,New Guinea,Leyte, and theAdmiralties.
General O. H. Ernst departed San Francisco 30 May for thePanama Canal and Europe; and, after embarking veterans atLe Havre,France, she steamed toNorfolk, arriving 2 July. A week later she departed forNaples,Italy, and carried troops thence via the Panama Canal toHollandia,New Guinea, where she arrived 27 August. TouchingManila 2 September, the ship departedTacloban 15 September forSan Pedro, Los Angeles, arriving 1 October. As part of the post-war"Magic-Carpet" fleet, she, between 1 November and 29 July 1946, made six troop-rotation voyages out of San Pedro and Seattle toJapan,Korea,Okinawa, and Pearl Harbor.
General O. H. Ernst returned to San Francisco from the Far East 29 July 1946, decommissioned there 15 August, and was returned to theWSA the same day. She was then transferred to the Transportation Service of the U.S. Army. USATGeneral O. H. Ernst made at least one trip from thePhilippines, arriving in San Francisco on 30 September 1946.[2]
She later entered theNational Defense Reserve Fleet atSuisun Bay, California.
She was sold toBethlehem Steel Wilmington (aka Harlan and Hollingsworth) ofWilmington, Delaware in April 1964, renamed SSCalmar, USCG ON 294756, IMO 6413754, and rebuilt into a general cargo ship for Bethlehem's subsidiary Calmar Line. In 1974 the ship was sold to Compañía Anónima Venezolana de Navegación (CAVN) and renamedOrinoco. She was scrapped in 1980.[1][3]
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.