USS GENERAL M. C. MEIGS (AP-116)

(Redirected from USS General M. C. Meigs)
'General M. C. Meigs' was a General John Pope class transport of the P2-S2-R2 type. She was a fast troop ship that transported troops for the United States during World War II and the Korean War. The ship was named after General Montgomery Cunningham Meigs, the Quartermaster General of the United States Army during the United States Civil War.
=War Service=
The ''General M. C. Meigs'' (AP-116) was launched on 13 March 1944 under a Maritime Commission contract by the Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Company of Kearny, New Jersey; she was acquired by the Navy 'on 2 June 1944,' and commissioned at Bayonne, New Jersey 'the next day' with Captain George W. McKean, USCG, in command. A fast troop carrier, she was capable of 25 knots with 5100 troops on board. She was one of several of this class of transports that was manned by United States Coast Guard personnel.

After two round-trip, troop-carrying voyages between Newport News, Virginia, and Naples, Italy ''General Meigs'' departed for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she was visited by Brazilian President Getulio Vargas, and embarked 5,200 troops of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force, the first Brazilian troops to be carried by an American transport. She carried these troops to Italy, where they participated in the Italian campaign. At Naples, she embarked troops, civilians, and 460 German prisoners of war for transportation to the United States, collecting additional troops at Bizerte, Tunisia, and at Oran, French Morocco.
''General Meigs'' made two similar round-trip voyages from the United States to Italy and North Africa via Brazil, carrying thousands of American and Brazilian troops to Europe for the remaining drive against Nazi Germany, and returning several thousand others to the United States and Brazil. She later deployed troops to Panama and Puerto Rico and to Le Havre, France. From Le Havre, Naples, Marseilles, Karachi, and Nagoya, she made six more trips carrying homebound troops for New York and Brazil.
On 4 March 1946, she was decommissioned at San Francisco for transfer to the American President Lines as a passenger ship in the Pacific.
After the outbreak of hostilities in Korea in 1950, ''General Meigs'' was assigned to the Military Sea Transportation Service. Manned by a civilian crew, she made 19 cruises to the Far East carrying thousands of American troops from the West Coast to ports in Japan and South Korea. Following the uncertain armistice on 27 July 1953, she continued to support American readiness in the Far East with troop-rotation cruises during the remainder of 1953 and through 1954. Placed in Reduced Operational Status in 1955, she was transferred to the Maritime Administration on 1 October 1958, and entered the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Olympia, Washington.
In 1972 while under tow to the Suisun Bay layup facility, she broke her tow in a storm, and ran aground off the coast of Washington state, where she eventually broke up over the next 4 years.
''General Meigs'' received six battle stars for Korean War service. She is sometimes confused with another ship with a similar name, the ''USAT Meigs''.

Contents

A Servicemen remembers

A wreck revisited

A Servicemen remembers

"The ''USS General M C Meigs'' was not in commission when I reported aboard. She was a large, high-speed troop transport who would normally cruise in excess of 25 knots. Pre-commissioning was in Long Island Sound where the water was like glass. Two of my third class operators were so seasick they stood watch with buckets. We had to put them on the beach.
The ship was commissioned near Hartford, Connecticut. We had to buy white uniforms and shoes that we never had any use for thereafter.
The MEIGS could carry 5000 troops. Our first run was from New York to Italy via Rio de Janeiro where we picked up native troops, and I mean native. They must have scoured the jungle for these guys and put uniforms on them with Uncle Sam paying their salaries. They would spend all evening having snake dances on deck.
From Naples we went back to New York carrying USO people, walking wounded, and German prisoners."
''(Andy Sallet, US Coastguard 1938 - ?)''

A wreck revisited

"On June 1, 2006, my wife and I made our first trip through the rain and rain forest jungles of NW Washington in search of the shipwrecked ruins of the USS Gen Meigs AP116, a ship I had sailed on 58 years earlier. This first trek was the culmination of 14 years of research.
"On June 2, 2006, exactly 62 years to the day after it "was acquired by the Navy on June 2, 1944", we visited with 3 men who had boarded the shipwrecked Meigs and had taken off several treasures for booty. One, in whose home we were visiting, had the main wooden/brass helm hanging over his fireplace. I had steered that helm 58 years earlier.
"On June 3, 2006, exactly 62 years to the day after it was "commissioned by the Navy on June 3, 1944," my wife and I made our second attempt to find the wreckage of the Meigs. Fortunately, it was not raining, which made passage through the jungle foliage somewhat easier. Due to hours of studying information about the wreck site and topo maps, after a very difficult descent through the under- and over- growth, we came out right on top of the rusting remains of the USS Gen Meigs, these many years later. We have collected numerous pictures and stories of the Meigs. Swiss Family Robinson never had a greater adventure."
''Calvin Pitts, Captain, and wife Wanda, in 2006'' calvinpitts@mybluelight.com