USS General W . P . Richardson ( AP - 118 ) USS " General W . P . Richardson " ( AP - 118 ) was a troopship that served with the United States Navy in World War II . She was later transferred to the United States Army and served briefly during the Korean War as USAT " General W . P . Richardson " before entering commercial service . AP - 118 was laid down under United States Maritime Commission contract 2 February 1944 by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company of Kearny , New Jersey ; named " General R . M . Blatchford " ( AP - 118 ) on 15 April 1944 ; renamed " General W . P . Richardson " ( AP 118 ) on 1 July 1944 ; launched 6 August 1944 ; acquired by the Navy 31 October 1944 , and commissioned at Bayonne , New Jersey , 2 November 1944 , Captain Joseph S . Rosenthal , USCG , in command . World War II . " General W . P . Richardson " sailed from Boston 10 December 1944 with over 5 , 000 fighting men and , after delivering them to Southampton , England , 21 December , returned to New York 4 January 1945 with troops and casualties . Ten days later the busy ship got underway from Newport News , Virginia , with 5 , 000 soldiers bound for Naples , debarking them 25 January and returning to Newport News 9 February with rotation troops and casualties . Underway again 18 February with 5 , 000 more soldiers she debarked them at Naples 1 March and subsequently carried 5 , 500 UK troops thence to Marseille , returning to Naples 9 March to embark 4 , 600 homeward - bound US casualties and troops who were delivered safely at Boston 21 March . " General W . P . Richardson " returned to Le Havre in April with 2 , 500 men and carried over 1 , 000 liberated American prisoners of war from France , and 2 , 900 troops and casualties from Southampton , home to New York on 28 April 1945 . Following a troop - carrying run from New York to Naples and Trinidad and back , she sailed from New York to Southampton , putting in at Boston 26 June with 4 , 300 wounded and other troops . Through the summer and fall of 1945 the transport made four round - trip voyages from Boston to France , two to Le Havre and two to Marseilles to help ensure an even flow of men and supplies from the New World to the Old . After hostilities . On 14 October 1945 she sailed from Boston to Karachi , India , " via " the Suez Canal and returned to New York 24 November with more than 5 , 000 veterans . On 30 November she embarked 4 , 500 rotation troops at New York and delivered them to Naples 10 December 1945 , steaming thence " via " Suez to Khorramshahr , Iran , to take on board 3 , 800 men of the Persian Gulf Command , returning " via " Naples and Casablanca to New York 23 January 1946 . Decommission . " General W . P . Richardson " was decommissioned at New York 14 February 1946 and returned to the Maritime Administration for peacetime operations as an Army transport until 10 March 1948 . Commercial service . Returned to the Maritime Administration by the Army , she was subsequently chartered 6 May 1949 to operate as SS " La Guardia " for the American Export Lines until 1 December 1951 , when she was returned to MARAD . The Army then briefly reacquired her for service in Korea until November 1952 , when she was laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet at James River . In 1957 she was bought by the Hawaiian Steamship Company and renamed " Leilani " on 5 February 1957 . Laid up once again in San Francisco , she was seized by the Federal Government on 12 May 1959 and put up for auction the following month . On 25 July 1960 , she was bought by American President Lines , refitted at Seattle and renamed " President Roosevelt " . In 1970 she was sold to Chandris Lines and named " Atlantis " . In October 1972 she was sold again , to the Ares Shipping Corporation and named " Emerald Seas " . After spending some time with Eastern Steamship , she was sold to Festival Cruises in 1992 and renamed " Sapphire Seas " . In October 1994 she was laid up in Piraeus , Greece , after which she was renamed " Ocean Explorer I " in 1998 for use at Lisbon as a Hotel Ship for Expo 98 . She was later laid up at Eleusis , Greece . In November 1999 she entered service with the World Cruise Company , but was taken out of service again shortly thereafter , in May 2000 , and laid up once more at Eleusis . She was scrapped in India in 2005 , having had a long career of about 60 years .