USS General W. F. Hase (AP-146)

File:General W. F. Hase (AP-146).jpg
Career (U.S.)
Namesake:	William Frederick Hase
Builder:	Kaiser Co., Inc. Richmond, California
Laid down:	date unknown
Launched:	15 December 1943
Acquired:	6 June 1944
Commissioned:	6 June 1944
Decommissioned:	6 June 1946
In service:	6 June 1946 (Army) 1 March 1950 (MSTS)
Out of service:	1 March 1950 (Army) 8 January 1960 (MSTS)
Reclassified:	T-AP-146, 1 March 1950
Fate:	scrapped in Taiwan, 1985
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:	6086 troops
Complement:	356 (officers and enlisted)
Armament:	Template:General G. O. Squier class armament I

USS General W. F. Hase (AP-146) 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 Frederick Hase. She was transferred to the U.S. Army as USAT General W. F. Hase in 1946. On 1 March 1950 she was transferred to the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) as USNS General W. F. Hase (T-AP-146). She was later sold for commercial operation in 1967, before being scrapped in 1985.

Operational history

General W. F. Hase (AP-146) was launched under a Maritime Commission contract (MC #662) 15 December 1943 by Kaiser Co., Inc., Yard 3, Richmond, California; sponsored by Mrs. John E. Wood, Jr.; acquired by the Navy and simultaneously placed in a ferry commission 22 April 1944 during transfer for conversion to a transport by Kaiser Co., Inc., Vancouver, Washington; and placed in full commission at Portland, Oregon, 6 June 1944, Comdr. W. W. Keller in command.

After shakedown out of San Pedro, General W. F. Hase departed San Francisco 15 July 1944 with 3,000 troops and $29 million in military currency. After touching at Pearl Harbor, she debarked the fighting men at Eniwetok, returning to San Francisco 26 August with 2,100 soldiers. Between 20 September and 1 November the transport steamed out of Seattle, carrying more than 2,000 troops to Pearl Harbor and 2,800 thence to Manus, Admiralty Islands, before returning to San Francisco with 2,500 veterans of the New Guinea campaign on board. Continuing to support the westward drive of naval forces in the Western Pacific, between 23 November and 20 April 1945, she made two round trips out of San Francisco, shuttling troops to New Guinea and the Philippines and bringing home veterans from New Caledonia and Manus.

During the next 12 months General W. F. Hase made six round-trip voyages, including two circumnavigations of the earth, while deploying troops to and from the United States. Departing San Pedro 9 May, she carried 2,600 troops to Melbourne, Australia, where she arrived 27 May. After steaming to Fremantle, Australia, she reached Calcutta, India, 14 June and embarked 2,500 homebound soldiers. She then sailed for the United States via Ceylon and the Suez Canal and arrived Norfolk 20 July. She departed Norfolk 5 August for the Mediterranean; and as part of the "Magic-Carpet" Fleet, she embarked more than 3,000 troops at Marseilles, France, before returning to New York 27 August. Operating out of New York between 1 September and 27 December, she sailed twice to Calcutta and back with more than 6,000 troops. On 11 January 1946 she again departed New York for Calcutta; and, after embarking 2,900 troops 8 February, she steamed via Manila to the West Coast, arriving San Francisco 8 March. Between 1 and 15 April she carried 1,000 occupation troops to Yokohama, Japan; and on her final "Magic-Carpet" voyage she returned 2,800 veterans to Seattle 28 April.

General W. F. Hase steamed to San Francisco 3 to 4 May decommissioned there 6 June, and, simultaneously, was returned to WSA for use as a transport by the Army Transportation Service.

She was reacquired by the Navy 1 March 1950 and assigned to duty with MSTS. Manned by a civilian crew, she operated out of San Francisco, carrying more than 75,000 troops and their combat cargo to the Far East in support of the Korean War. Between 1950 and 1953 she made 19 round-trip voyages to Japan and Korea, and she returned to San Francisco from her final Far East deployment 29 August 1953. Towed to San Diego in June 1954, she was placed out of service in reserve in July and remained inactive until returned to the Maritime Administration 8 January 1960. She was berthed in the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Suisun Bay, California until 1969, at which time she was sold private. The ship was scrapped in Taiwan in 1985.

General W. F. Hase received eight 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.

Further reading

• Bassett, Richard M.; Lewis H. Carlson (2002). And the wind blew cold : the story of an American POW in North Korea. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press. ISBN 9780873387507. OCLC 48966674.  In this memoir, the author recounts his experience as a POW in the Korean War, which includes his return on USNS General W. F. Hase.

External links

• Photo gallery of General W. F. Hase at NavSource Naval History
• Sehnert, Walt (2006-03-06). "Remembering an earlier cruise". McCook (Nebraska) Daily Gazette. http://www.mccookgazette.com/story/1142831.html.  Sehnert compares his Korean War experience on USNS General H. F. Hase with a 2004 cruise on MS Oosterdam.
• Kenneth "Bud" Helmerick (Firefighter, USS Hase, 1943-46) Journal