USAT Republic at Hunters Point, post-World War II |
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| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS Republic (AP-33) |
| Namesake: | Serbia, Ulysses S. Grant, James Buchanan |
| Owner: | International Mercantile Marine Co. Hamburg America Line U.S. Navy U.S. Army U.S. Shipping Board United States Lines |
| Builder: | Harland and Wolff, Ireland |
| Launched: | 19 February 1903 |
| Christened: | SS Servian |
| Completed: | 1903 |
| Acquired: | Seized from Germany, 6 April 1917 |
| Maiden voyage: | 14 September 1907, Hamburg–Boulogne-sur-Mer–Southampton–New York |
| In service: | Inactive: 1903 - 1907 Commercial: 1907 - Aug 1914 Inactive: Aug 1914 - Apr 1917 Navy: 2 Aug 1917 - Oct 1919 Army: 6 Oct 1919 - Mar 1921 Inactive: Mar 1921 - 1923 Commercial: 1924 - 1931 Army: 1931 - Jul 1941 Navy: 22 Jul 1941 - 27 Jan 1945 Army: Feb 1946 - May 1949 |
| Renamed: | SS President Grant (1907) USS President Grant (ID-3014) (1917) USAT Republic (1919) USS President Buchanan (1921) USS Republic (AP-33) (1941) USAHS/USAT Republic (1945) |
| Struck: | From the Navy: 2 February 1945 |
| Fate: | Sold for scrap, 11 March 1952 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 33,000 long tons (33,530 t) |
| Length: | 599 ft (183 m) |
| Beam: | 68 ft 2 in (20.78 m) |
| Draft: | 34 ft (10 m) |
| Propulsion: | Steam turbine |
| Speed: | 14.5 knots (26.9 km/h; 16.7 mph) |
| Complement: | 712 |
| Armament: | World War II : • 4 × 5"/38 caliber dual purpose gun • 2 × 1-pounder guns • 2 × machine guns |
USS Republic (AP-33) was a troop transport that served with the US Navy during World War II. In World War I she served with the Navy as USS President Grant (ID-3014) before being turned over to the Army and named Republic. The ship was renamed the President Buchanan in 1921 before reverting to Republic in 1924.
Originally christened as the SS Servian, she was built in 1903 by Harland and Wolff, Ltd. of Belfast for the Wilson & Furness-Leyland Line, a subsidiary of International Mercantile Marine Co. spearheaded by J.P. Morgan. After plans for a North Atlantic service collapsed, she spent four years at anchor in the Musgrave Channel in Belfast.
After being purchased by the Hamburg-American Packet Steamship Company in 1907, it was renamed the SS President Grant, the third ship named for Ulysses S. Grant. In August 1914, after seven years of trans-Atlantic passenger service, she took refuge at New York City when the outbreak of World War I made the high seas unsafe for German merchant ships. She was interned at Hoboken, New Jersey and remained inactive for nearly three years until the United States entered the war in April 1917. The ship was seized when the United States officially declared war against Germany.
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Turned over to the Navy, she was commissioned USS President Grant (SP-3014) on 2 August 1917, Comdr. J. P. Morton in command. During her operations as a troop transport she made sixteen round trips between New York and ports of France, carrying a total of 40,104 servicemen on her eastbound passage, and a total of 37,025 servicemen on her westbound returns to New York.
President Grant was transferred to the Army 6 October 1919. During the period January to November 1920, she served as the United States Army Transport Republic and made two voyages repatriating Czechoslovak troops from Siberia to Trieste. After a trip to France, she was delivered to the USSR by the Army in March 1921. Until 1924, she lay at Norfolk, Virginia and then was placed on North Atlantic passenger service with United States Lines.
In 1931, she reverted to Army control as a troopship. After alterations, USAT Republic made three trips to San Francisco, Hawaii, and Manila. She later made two visits to China and one to Japan. In 1932, Far Eastern ports were excluded and she was confined to a regular New York-Honolulu run until June 1941.
USAT Republic was again taken over by the Navy and commissioned as USS Republic (AP-33) on 22 July 1941, under Commander G. Clark. Her armament consisted of one 5" and four 3" mounts. After a crossing from New York to Iceland, Republic sailed for San Francisco and in November left for the Southwest Pacific. Transporting the eventual legendary "Lost Battalion", the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery, 36th Division (Texas National Guard), she reached Pearl Harbor on November 28, refueling and leaving port a day later. On December 6, she crossed the equator.
The next morning her crew and passengers learned of the Japanese attack on Pearl harbor. The Republic had been in Stateside dry-dock just prior to the 2nd Battalion's boarding, and had four 3-inch guns and one 5-inch gun (on the "fan-tail"). The Battalion manned these guns from December 7 until their arrival in Brisbane Australia, via the Fiji Islands. After debarking the troops, the Republic sailed on to Sydney. Between March and November 1942 she served on the San Francisco-Honolulu run, completing a total of seven voyages. During 1943 and 1944, the Republic operated out of San Francisco, transporting troops and supplies to Honolulu and the Southwest Pacific. She called at Fiji, Samoa, Nouméa, Guadalcanal, Sydney, Funafuti, Hollandia and other ports.
Republic returned home in early 1945 and decommissioned at New Orleans 27 January 1945. She was struck from the Navy Register 2 February 1945 and turned over to the Army for conversion to a hospital ship, designated USAHS Republic.
Republic was overhauled by the Waterman Steamship Company at Mobile, Alabama until August. In September 1945 she proceeded to Los Angeles where she was altered before departing for Honolulu. The Army cancelled her designation as a hospital ship while she was enroute to Manila in February 1946. As USAT Republic, she embarked war veterans at Tacloban and Leyte bringing them back to San Francisco in late March 1946.
In the summer of 1948, US Army dependents and employees embarked in Seattle, WA for a voyage to Tokyo, Japan.
In May 1949, she was decommissioned by the Army Transport Service and returned to the Maritime Commission, after which she was laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Olympia, Washington. She was sold for scrap to the Bethlehem Steel Company on 11 March 1952.
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