| Career (U.S.) | |
|---|---|
| Namesake: | Charles Clarendon Ballou |
| Builder: | Kaiser Co., Inc. Richmond, California |
| Laid down: | date unknown |
| Launched: | 7 March 1945 |
| Acquired: | 20 May 1945 |
| Commissioned: | 30 June 1945 |
| Decommissioned: | 17 May 1946 |
| In service: | after May 1946 (Army) 1 March 1950 (MSTS) |
| Out of service: | 1 March 1950 (Army) September 1954 (MSTS) |
| Renamed: | Brooklyn, 1969 Humacao, 1975 Eastern Light, 1981 |
| Reclassified: | T-AP-157, 1 March 1950 |
| Struck: | 1 July 1960 |
| Fate: | scrapped at Kaohsiung, Taiwan[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | General G. O. Squier-class transport 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-screw steam turbine with 9,900 shp (7,400 kW) |
| Speed: | 17 knots (31 km/h) |
| Capacity: | 3,823 troops |
| Complement: | 356 (officers and enlisted) |
| Armament: | 4 × 5"/38 caliber gun mounts 4 × 40 mm AA gun mounts 16 × 20 mm AA gun mounts |
USS General C. C. Ballou (AP-157) 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 Charles Clarendon Ballou. She was transferred to the U.S. Army as USAT General C. C. Ballou in 1946. On 1 March 1950 she was transferred to the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) as USNS General C. C. Ballou (T-AP-157). She was later sold for commercial operation under several names before being scrapped some time after 1981.[1]
General C. C. Ballou, (AP-157) was launched 7 March 1945 under Maritime Commission contract (MC #714) by Kaiser Co., Inc., Yard 3, Richmond, California; sponsored by Mrs. Harry J. Bernat; acquired by the Navy 20 May 1945; and commissioned 30 June 1945, Comdr. M. D. MacGregor in command.
Following shakedown off San Diego, General C. C. Ballou departed San Pedro 29 July 1945 for France via the Panama Canal. She arrived Marseilles after the Japanese surrender, and sailed with returning veterans 23 August bound for Hampton Roads. Then after two round-trip voyages to India and back to New York with returning soldiers and sailors, the ship sailed 13 January 1946 for a voyage that was to take her around the world visiting Calcutta, Manila, and other ports before mooring at San Francisco 8 March with over 3,000 troops. General C. C. Ballou completed her voyage by transiting the Panama Canal, arriving New York via San Juan, Puerto Rico 1 May. The transport decommissioned at Hoboken, New Jersey, 17 May, was returned to the Maritime Commission, and eventually served as a transport for Army Transportation Service.
On 5 April 1949, USAT General C. C. Ballou departed Naples with 859 displaced persons from Europe for resettlement in Australia arriving 29 April 1949 at Melbourne.[2] She completed another voyage to Sydney on 23 March 1950 with 1266 more refugees.[3]
General C. C. Ballou was reacquired by the Navy 1 March 1950 for MSTS and for nearly 2 years sailed between Europe and the United States with refugees. Beginning in 1952 the ship began transporting troops from the West Coast to Korea to serve in the Korean War. Following the armistice, General C. C. Ballou continued to sail to Japan and Korea on troop rotation duty. She was placed out of service in September 1954 and placed in reserve at Orange, Texas. Later delivered to the Maritime Commission National Defense Reserve Fleet at Beaumont, Texas, she was struck from the Navy List 1 July 1960, and remained in reserve until sold for commercial use in 1968[4] to Sea-Land Service, Inc. of Wilmington, Delaware.[1] She was rebuilt as an 11,369 gross ton container ship by the Alabama Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. and renamed Brooklyn. The Puerto Rico Maritime Shipping Authority purchased her in 1975 and renamed her Humacao. Eastern Star Maritime Ltd. of Panama renamed her Eastern Light when it purchased her in 1981. Eastern Light left Kobe, Japan on 24 December 1981 to steam to Kaohsiung, Taiwan where she was scrapped.[1]
General C. C. Ballou received five battle stars for Korean War service.
This ship was also used to transport troops from New York City to Bremerhaven, Germany during the Berlin Airlift in November 1948. (I as an USAF Sergeant was aboard that ship and have pictures on the boat deck with the name of the ship in the background)