Namesake William George Haan Acquired 2 August 1945 Decommissioned 7 June 1946 Length 159 m | Laid down date unknown Commissioned 2 August 1945 Launched 20 March 1945 Builder Kaiser Shipyards | |
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In service June 1946 (Army)
1 March 1950 (MSTS) | ||
USS General W. G. Haan (AP-158) was a General G. O. Squier-class transport ship for the U.S. Navy in World War II. She was named in honor of U.S. Army general William George Haan. She was transferred to the U.S. Army as USAT General W. G. Haan in 1946. On 1 March 1950 she was transferred to the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) as USNS General W. G. Haan (T-AP-158). She was later sold for commercial operation under several names before being scrapped in 1987.
Operational history
General W. G. Haan (AP-158) was launched 20 March 1945 under Maritime Commission contract (MC #715) by Kaiser Co., Inc., Yard 3, Richmond, California; sponsored by Miss Helen Coxhead; acquired by the Navy and simultaneously commissioned 2 August 1945, Comdr. J. V. Rylander in command.
General W. G. Haan conducted shakedown training out of San Diego until after the surrender of Japan. Departing 4 September 1945 for the southwest Pacific, the transport touched at Eniwetok, Leyte, and Manila before returning to Seattle with homecoming veterans 22 October. Subsequently, the ship made two voyages to Japan and the Philippines, bringing occupation troops and embarking returning servicemen. She returned to San Francisco after her last passage, and departed 30 April 1946 for the East Coast via the Panama Canal. Arriving Baltimore 25 May, General W. G. Haan decommissioned there 7 June 1946 and was returned to WSA for further transfer to the Army Transport Service.
On 2 October 1949, USAT General W. G. Haan departed Naples with 1303 displaced persons from Eastern Europe for resettlement in Australia arriving 15 November 1949 at Melbourne. On December 18, 1949, she left Bremerhaven arriving December 28 in New York City with mostly Polish passengers. She completed another voyage to Melbourne on 20 February 1950 with 1301 more refugees.
Reacquired by the Navy 1 March 1950, General W. G. Haan was assigned to MSTS under a civilian crew. Until 1953 she operated under the International Refugee Organization and carried displaced East Europeans from northern European ports to the United States. In 1952 General W. G. Haan also made two support voyages to the American bases at Thule, Greenland, and Goose Bay, Labrador. Following this demanding duty, the ship made several voyages to Europe in support of American units. She continued this steaming schedule until March 1955 when she was placed in Reduced Operational Status at New York.
In December 1956 General W. G. Haan resumed duty as a refugee transport, steaming from Bremerhaven, Germany to New York and arriving on January 7, 1957. She embarked refugees from the Hungarian Revolution, among them, András István Gróf, who would eventually take the helm of Intel Corporation and be awarded Time magazine's Man of the Year honor in 1997. General W. G. Haan was again placed in Reduced Operational Status in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Orange, Texas, and was returned to the' Maritime Administration 22 October 1958. She entered the National Defense Reserve Fleet for layup at nearby Beaumont.
The ship was sold for commercial use in 1968 to Hudson Waterways Corporation of New York. In 1969 the ship was rebuilt as a 13,489 gross ton container ship by Maryland Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. in Baltimore. Renamed Transoregon, USCG ON 516060, IMO 6904868, she began service in December hauling containerized cargo for Seatrain Lines. In 1975 she was sold to the Puerto Rico Maritime Shipping Authority and renamed Mayaguez (not to be confused with the Sea-Land ship of the same name involved in the Mayaguez incident). She was sold in 1982 the Merchant Terminal Corporation of New York and renamed Amco Trader. She was laid up in New York when sold to Steamco Co. on June 1985. She was resold to Crestwood Corp, 19 November 1985, and renamed SS Trader. She was scrapped at Taiwan in 1987.