USS General J. H. McRae (AP-149)

Career (U.S.)
Namesake:	James H. McRae
Builder:	Kaiser Co., Inc. Richmond, California
Laid down:	date unknown
Launched:	26 April 1944
Acquired:	19 June 1944
Commissioned:	8 August 1944
Decommissioned:	27 February 1946
In service:	1946–1 March 1950, U.S. Army Transport Service 1 March 1950–29 October 1954, MSTS
Renamed:	USAT General J. H. McRae, 27 February 1946 USNS General J. H. McRae, 1 March 1950
Reclassified:	T-AP-149, 1 March 1950
Struck:	date unknown
Fate:	scrapped 1987
Notes:	newspaper: McRAE SPRAY
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:	Template:General G. O. Squier class draft I
Propulsion:	single-screw steam turbine with 9,900 shp (7,400 kW)
Speed:	17 knots (31.5 km/h)
Capacity:	Template:General G. O. Squier class troop capacity II
Complement:	356 (officers and enlisted)
Armament:	Template:General G. O. Squier class armament I

USS General J. H. McRae (AP-149) was a General G. O. Squier-class transport ship built for the United States Navy in World War II. In 1946 she was transferred to the U.S. Army and operated as USAT General J. H. McRae. On 1 March 1950 she was transferred to Military Sea Transportation Service and operated as USNS General J. H. McRae (T-AP-149). She was named for U.S. Army Major General James H. McRae.

Operational history

General J. H. McRae was launched 26 April 1944 by the Kaiser Co., Kaiser Shipyards, Yard 3, Richmond, California. and commissioned 8 August 1944 at Richmond, California.

During 1944 she sailed from West Coast ports carrying troops to Honolulu, Hawaii and other Pacific Theater destinations. On 11 January 1945 she sailed for India where she picked up troops and delivered them to various South Pacific destinations. She sailed 19 June 1945 through the Panama Canal for Le Havre, France, where she embarked more than 4,000 troops and returned with them to Newport News, Virginia She moved to Staten Island, N.Y. where on 26 October 1945 she picked up 2,200 "kaki clad brethen"(The "MAC" Log)" and sailed 8,643nm arriving at Iran's Shaht-El-Arab River on 19 November 1945. The MAC Log also said that up to this point the "MAC" had transported 36,000 troops over 120,000 nautical miles (220,000 km). She continued transporting troops from Europe and other ports through the end of 1945. She was decommissioned at New York City 27 February 1946 and was returned to WSA for peacetime operations as an Army transport.

As USAT General J. H. McRae she transported troops through 1950. One typical voyage during this period was transporting troops from Manila to San Francisco in January 1947.

Reacquired 1 March 1950 and assigned to MSTS. Manned by civilians, she operated between New York and the United Kingdom until February 1953, then shifted her base to San Francisco, California for runs to Japan.

On 29 October 1954 the General J. H. McRae was inactivated. She was scrapped in Taiwan in 1987.

She received four battle stars for Korean War service.

References

• This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

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