USS General W. H. Gordon
USNS General W. H. Gordon (T-AP-117) in San Francisco Bay, October 1967 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| United States | |
| Name | USS General W. H. Gordon |
| Namesake | Major General Walter Henry Gordon, United States Army |
| Builder | Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock |
| Laid down | 2 November 1943 |
| Launched | 7 May 1944 |
| Sponsored by | Mrs Leslie J. McNair |
| Commissioned |
|
| Recommissioned | May 1961 |
| Decommissioned | Apr 1970 |
| Reclassified | T-AP-117 (November 1951) |
| Stricken | Three times: 1946, 1958 and March 1986 |
| Identification |
|
| Honors & awards | Four service stars for Korean War service and two for the Vietnam War |
| Fate | Scrapped 1987, Taiwan |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | General John Pope-class transport |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 622 feet 7 inches (189.76 m) |
| Beam | 75 feet 6 inches (23.01 m) |
| Draft | 25 feet 6 inches (7.77 m) |
| Installed power | 17,000 shp |
| Propulsion | 2 steam turbines, reduction gearing, twin screw |
| Speed | 20.6 to 21 knots (38.2 to 38.9 km/h) (sources vary) |
| Capacity | 4,244 |
| Complement | 533 |
| Armament | 4 x single 5"/38 caliber dual purpose guns, 4 x quad 1.1" guns, replaced by 20 x single 20mm guns |
_underway_in_San_Francisco_Bay,_California_(USA),_in_October_1967_(NH_104712).jpg){kind=link}
USS General W. H. Gordon (AP-117) was a troop transport that served with the United States Navy in World War II. After the war, she was transferred to the US Army and served as USAT General W. H. Gordon. In the mid to late 1940s she sailed in trans-Pacific American President Lines passenger service with sister ship SS General Meigs. With the outbreak of the Korean War, she was reacquired by the Navy as a civilian-crewed Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) vessel, and redesignated USNS General W. H. Gordon (T-AP-117). She served again under the same designation in the Vietnam War.
General W. H. Gordon was launched under Maritime Commission contract by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company of Kearny, New Jersey, 7 May 1944; and commissioned, after being acquired by the Navy, 29 June 1944.