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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
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WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # NH 82334:  USS General John Pope between October 1943 and March 1945.

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS General John Pope (AP-110), 1943-.
Later USAT General John Pope and USNS General John Pope (T-AP-110)

USS General John Pope, name ship of a class of 19,650-ton (full load displacement) transports, was built at Kearny, New Jersey, to the Maritime Commission's P2-S2-R2 design. Placed in ferry commission in July 1943, she was commissioned in full in August 1943. After shakedown and a round-trip voyage to Scotland, in late September the ship arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, where her lifeboats and davits were replaced by liferafts. She was the only ship of her class so modified. In early October 1943 General John Pope sailed for the Pacific and during the next year and a half transported troops between San Francisco, California, and the southwest Pacific. In late 1944 and early 1945 she voyaged from San Francisco to Bombay, India, then carried nearly four-thousand New Zealand troops to Australia and Wellington, New Zealand. She probably recovered her lifeboats and davits at San Francisco in March 1945. Between March and August 1945 the transport made voyages from San Francisco to the Philippines and from Marseilles, France, to Manila. At the end of August 1945 she began the first of five "Magic Carpet" trips, returning combat veterans from the western Pacific to the U. S. West Coast. In June 1946 USS General John Pope was decommissioned and transferred to the U.S. Army.

As USAT General John Pope, she operated as a civilian-manned Army transport until laid up in the later 1940s. Under consideration for commercial sale when the Korean War broke out, in July 1950 the ship was instead turned over to the Navy's new Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS), quickly refitted and placed in service as USNS General John Pope. She arrived at Tokyo from San Francisco in late August 1950 on the first of many wartime voyages between the U. S. West Coast and ports in Japan and Korea. The ship was upgraded between February and May 1953 at an Oregon shipyard, receiving air conditioning, increased troop-carrying capacity, and improved safety-at-sea features, among them replacement of her World War II vintage lifeboats and davits with a new arrangement of boats. As the need for large troop transports declined, in May 1955 General John Pope was placed in Reduced Operating Status (with a cadre crew) at Seattle, Washington, and later entered MSTS Ready Reserve (without crew) at Everett, Washington. In September 1958 the transport was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register, transferred to the Maritime Administration, and placed in its reserve fleet at Olympia, Washington.

In August 1965 the Navy reacquired General John Pope to support the Vietnam War buildup. Following several years of MSTS service, she was again inactivated and placed in the Maritime Administration Reserve Fleet in May 1970, this time at Suisun Bay, California, but remained on the Naval Vessel Register until stricken in October 1990. The Navy transferred full title to the ship to the Maritime Administration in September 1992. The last survivor of her class, General John Pope remains at Suisun Bay in December 2006 in "Non-Retention, Historic Hold" status.

This page features most of the views we have concerning USS General John Pope (AP-110), USAT General John Pope, and USNS General John Pope (T-AP-110).


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 104633

USS General John Pope
(AP-110)

Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken circa 1943, when the ship was first completed with Welin boat davits, or circa 1945-1946, after these davits were reinstalled.

Copied from the book "Troopships of World War II", by Roland W. Charles.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 45KB; 740 x 405 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 82334

USS General John Pope
(AP-110)

Photographed between October 1943 and March 1945, most likely in Californian waters in early 1945.
The lifeboats and Welin boat davits normally carried amidships and aft in this class were removed from General John Pope at the end of September 1943 at Norfolk and replaced with the inclined nests of liferafts shown here. The ship got its boats and davits back between November 1944 and March 1945, most likely in March 1945 at the Hunters Point shipyard at San Francisco.

Donation of Vivienne Riddell, 1974.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph

Online Image: 58KB; 740 x 595 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 78646

USS General John Pope
(AP-110)

In San Francisco Bay in late 1945 or early 1946, at the end of a Magic Carpet voyage from the western Pacific. Thousands of homeward-bound troops are on deck.
Note that her lifeboats and Welin boat davits, which had been removed in September 1943, have been reinstalled.

Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1974.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph

Online Image: 41KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 104267

USNS General John Pope
(T-AP-110)

In San Francisco Bay, California, between her reactivation in 1950 and her reconfiguration in 1953.
Except for the absence of armament and the presence of Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) markings on the stacks, her appearance has changed little since World War II.

Photograph from the Military Sealift Command collection at the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 57KB; 740 x 580 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 104268

USNS General John Pope
(T-AP-110)

Photographed between her reconfiguration in 1953 and her reduction to Reduced Operating Status in 1955.
In 1953 her World War II Welin boat davits were removed and her lifeboats redistributed.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Military Sealift Command collection at the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 68KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 104269

USNS General John Pope
(T-AP-110)

Photographed between her reconfiguration in 1953 and her reduction to Reduced Operating Status in 1955.
In 1953 her World War II Welin boat davits were removed and her lifeboats redistributed.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Military Sealift Command collection at the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 65KB; 740 x 565 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 104590

USNS General John Pope
(T-AP-110)

In San Francisco Bay in 1968.

Photograph from the Military Sealift Command collection at the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 49KB; 740 x 615 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 104591

MSTS Reserve Fleet, Everett, Washington


The MSTS Reserve Fleet Nest at the Navy Industrial Reserve Shipyard, Everett, Washington, photographed on 25 June 1957 looking to the north.
The ships, from right to left, are USNS General John Pope (T-AP-110), General M. C. Meigs (T-AP-116), General William Weigel (T-AP-119), General R. L. Howze (T-AP-134), Marine Phoenix (T-AP-195), Marine Adder (T-AP-193), and Marine Lynx (T-AP-194). They are in MSTS Ready Reserve status. All were moved to the Maritime Administration reserve fleets at Olympia and Astoria, Washington, in 1958.
During World War II this site was occupied by the Everett Pacific Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, which built net laying ships (AN, originally YN), non-self propelled barracks ships (APL), self-propelled covered lighters (YF), and little harbor tugs (YTL). Larger ships were repaired at the piers where the MSTS ships were later moored.
Photographed from an aircraft based at Naval Air Station, Whidbey Island, Washington.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Military Sealift Command collection at the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 86KB; 645 x 675 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 104592

MSTS Reserve Fleet, Everett, Washington


The MSTS Reserve Fleet Nest at the Navy Industrial Reserve Shipyard, Everett, Washington, photographed on 25 June 1957 looking to the south.
The ships, from left to right, are USNS General John Pope (T-AP-110), General M. C. Meigs (T-AP-116), General William Weigel (T-AP-119), General R. L. Howze (T-AP-134), Marine Phoenix (T-AP-195), Marine Adder (T-AP-193), and Marine Lynx (T-AP-194). They are in MSTS Ready Reserve status. All were moved to the Maritime Administration reserve fleets at Olympia and Astoria, Washington, in 1958.
During World War II this site was occupied by the Everett Pacific Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, which built net laying ships (AN, originally YN), non-self propelled barracks ships (APL), self-propelled covered lighters (YF), and little harbor tugs (YTL). Larger ships were repaired at the piers where the MSTS ships were later moored.
Photographed from an aircraft based at Naval Air Station, Whidbey Island, Washington.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Military Sealift Command collection at the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 85KB; 645 x 675 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 104593

MSTS Reserve Fleet, Everett, Washington


The MSTS Reserve Fleet Nest at the Navy Industrial Reserve Shipyard, Everett, Washington, photographed on 25 June 1957 looking to the east.
The ships, from top to bottom, are USNS General John Pope (T-AP-110), General M. C. Meigs (T-AP-116), General William Weigel (T-AP-119), General R. L. Howze (T-AP-134), Marine Phoenix (T-AP-195), Marine Adder (T-AP-193), and Marine Lynx (T-AP-194). They are in MSTS Ready Reserve status. All were moved to the Maritime Administration reserve fleets at Olympia and Astoria, Washington, in 1958.
During World War II this site was occupied by the Everett Pacific Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, which built net laying ships (AN, originally YN), non-self propelled barracks ships (APL), self-propelled covered lighters (YF), and little harbor tugs (YTL). Larger ships were repaired at the piers where the MSTS ships were later moored.
Photographed from an aircraft based at Naval Air Station, Whidbey Island, Washington.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Military Sealift Command collection at the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 88KB; 640 x 675 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 104594

MSTS Reserve Fleet, Everett, Washington


The MSTS Reserve Fleet Nest at the Navy Industrial Reserve Shipyard, Everett, Washington, photographed on 25 June 1957 looking to the west.
The ships, from bottom to top, are USNS General John Pope (T-AP-110), General M. C. Meigs (T-AP-116), General William Weigel (T-AP-119), General R. L. Howze (T-AP-134), Marine Phoenix (T-AP-195), Marine Adder (T-AP-193), and Marine Lynx (T-AP-194). They are in MSTS Ready Reserve status. All were moved to the Maritime Administration reserve fleets at Olympia and Astoria, Washington, in 1958.
During World War II this site was occupied by the Everett Pacific Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, which built net laying ships (AN, originally YN), non-self propelled barracks ships (APL), self-propelled covered lighters (YF), and little harbor tugs (YTL). Larger ships were repaired at the piers where the MSTS ships were later moored.
Photographed from an aircraft based at Naval Air Station, Whidbey Island, Washington.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Military Sealift Command collection at the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 78KB; 645 x 675 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 75612

USS General John Pope
(AP-110)

Being launched on 21 March 1943 at the Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co, Kearny, New Jersey.

Courtesy of James Russell, 1972.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph

Online Image: 64KB; 580 x 765 pixels

 


In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold other views of USS General John Pope (AP-110). The following list features some of these images:

The images listed below are NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections.
DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions".



  • Photo #: 80-G-182476
    Port broadside (slightly toward the bow) surface view of USS General John Pope underway on 25 August 1943, photographed by the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia. As on many otherwise excellent Norfolk Navy Yard photographs, modifications from the latest yard period have been crudely circled in pen.

  • Photo #: 80-G-79931
    Port quarter aerial view of USS General John Pope (AP-110) underway on 28 August 1943, photographed from an aircraft based at Hampton Roads Naval Air Station, Virginia. The ship is carrying its original outfit of lifeboats and Welin davits.

  • Photo #: 80-G-79933
    As Photo #: 80-G-79931, but port bow aerial view.

  • Photo #: 80-G-79934
    As Photo #: 80-G-79931, but port quarter aerial view (less toward the stern than in 80-G-79931).

  • Photo #: 19-N-79935
    As Photo #: 80-G-79931, but port broadside (somewhat toward the stern) aerial view.

  • Photo #: 80-G-79937
    As Photo #: 80-G-79931, but starboard broadside (somewhat toward the stern) aerial view.


  • Photo #: 80-G-83414
    Port quarter high aerial view of USS General John Pope underway on 8 October 1943, photographed from an aircraft based at Hampton Roads Naval Air Station. The ship's boats and davits have been replaced by liferafts.

  • Photo #: 80-G-83417
    As Photo #: 80-G-83414, but port broadside (somewhat toward the stern) low aerial view.

  • Photo #: 19-N-83419
    As Photo #: 80-G-83414, but starboard bow (rather toward the broadside) high aerial view.


    Reproductions of these images should be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system for pictures not held by the Naval Historical Center.

    The images listed in this box are NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections. DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions".


  • If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 22 January 2007
    New image added and captions correcteds 12 February 2007