General Hugh J. Gaffey AP-121-Admiral W.L Capps AP-121

A Personal Account of the Gaffey

Admiral W. L. Capps -General Gaffey

(AP-121: dp. 20,120 (lim.), 1. 608'11", b. 75'6", dr. 26'6" (lim.) s. 19.0 k., cpl. 367, trp. 4,680, a. 4 5", 8 40mm., cl. Admiral W. S. Benson; T. P2-SE2-R1)

Admiral W. L. Capps (AP-121) was laid down on 15 December 1942 at Alameda, Calif., by the Bethlehem-Alameda Shipyard,

Inc., under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 679); launched on 20 February 1944; sponsored by Mrs. James Reed delivered to the Navy on 18 September 1944, and commissioned that same day, Capt. N. S. Haugen, USCG in command.

Following shakedown training along the west coast, the transport departed San Francisco on 23 November, bound for the southwestern Pacific. En route she visited Noumea, New Caledonia, where she disembarked marines and took on board passengers headed for Guadalcanal. From that island, Admiral W. L. Capps carried another group of passengers to Espiritu Santo. She embarked almost 3,500 troops at the latter port and set a course for home where she arrived on the day after Christmas. The ship nut to sea again on 21 February 1945 bound for Hollandia New Guinea, whence she proceeded to the Philippines. The ship arrived at Leyte on 20 March and departed that island on 8 April for the United States. After arriving at San Francisco late that month, she moved north to Seattle, Wash.

where she embarked almost 5,000 boons to reinforce American units fighting on Okinawa. Sailing on 7 May, the transport stopped at Pear] Harbor, Eniwetok, and Ulithi before reaching Okinawa on 2 July. Next she visited Saipan on the 12th and 13th, before getting underway on the latter day bound ultimately for the Panama Canal and the east coast of the United States.

Admiral W. L. Capps entered port at Norfolk, Va., on 4 August and, while undergoing voyage repairs, received word at mid-month that hostilities in the Pacific had ended. She stood out of Norfolk on 1 September, with members of the French Navy among her nassen~ers. After dropping them off at Marseille, France, and embarking American troops, she headed back toward the United States and arrived in Norfolk on 20 September. Five days later, the ship once more set out for the Mediterranean this time to repatriate some 3,765 former Italian prisoners of war. After stopping at Naples and Marseille, she returned to Newport News, Va., on 19 October. Between that time and midDecember, the ship made two more round-trip voyages to France and back—one to Le Havre and the other to Marseille—returning American servicemen home.

On 29 December, she put to sea to return to the Pacific. At Pearl Harbor, the transport embarked troops and continued her voyage west on 16 January 1946. She disembarked one group of passengers at Yokosuka, took on almost 4,700 more, and headed for Seattle on 30 January. In March the ship made a round-trip voyage from the west coast to Okinawa, returning to San Francisco with over 4,800 troops. In April, she moved from the west coast to New York which she reached on the 24th. On 8 May 1946, Admiral W. L. Capps was decommissioned and returned to the Maritime Commission. Her name was struck from the Navy list in June of 1946.

The Maritime Commission transferred the ship to the Army which named her General Hugh J. Gaffey (q.v.). She served the Army Transport Service until 1 March 1950 when the Navy re- her. Retaining her Army name the transport was not recommissioned, but instead was assignedto the Military Sea Transportation Service and manned by a civil service crew. USNS General Hugh J. Gaffey (T-AP-121) spent almost two decades carrying men and material to American installations throughout the Far East and the Pacific Ocean. She supported American troops during the Korean conflict in the early 1950's and performed similar service during the Vietman involvement in the mid-1960's. On 4 November 1968, General Hugh J. Gaffey was transferred to the Maritime Administration on a temporary basis to be laid up with the National Defense Reserve Fleet facility at Suisun Bay, Calif., On 31 August 1969, she was transferred permanently to Maritime Administration custody. Her name was again struck from the Navy list on 9 October 1969.

In 1978, the transport was reacquired by the Navy a second time and her name reinstated on the Navy list. Redesignated IX-507, General Hugh J. Gaffey was placed in service in November 1978 at Bremerton Wash., to serve as a barracks ship for the crews of ships undergoing major overhaul. As of 1 January 1989, her name was still on the list of active duty service craft.