USS General Omar Bundy ( AP - 152 ) USS " General Omar Bundy " ( AP - 152 ) was a for the U . S . Navy in World War II . She was named in honor of U . S . Army general Omar Bundy . She was transferred to the U . S . Army as USAT " General Omar Bundy " in 1946 . She was later sold for commercial operation under several names , before being declared missing and presumed sunk . Operational history . " General Omar Bundy " ( AP - 152 ) was launched 5 August 1944 under a Maritime Commission contract ( MC # 704 ) by the Kaiser Co . , Richmond , California ; sponsored by Mrs . Lawrence of Richmond ; acquired and simultaneously commissioned 6 January 1945 , Captain Lawrence Wainwright in command . Many years later , in 1980 , after being converted to a bulk carrier and renamed the SS Poet , the ship disappeared off the coast of Delaware with all hands and sparked a discussion of maritime safety inspections and the wisdom of keeping very old American ships at sea . " General Omar Bundy " stood out of San Francisco Bay 10 March 1945 with 2 , 700 sailors and marines bound for the Southwest Pacific , and after delivering them to Pearl Harbor , Ulithi , and Guam , returned to San Diego 11 May with over 1 , 700 homeward - bound troops after debarking 200 Japan ese POW ' s at Pearl Harbor on 3 May . Six days later she sailed for the Atlantic via the Panama Canal and put in at Norfolk , 31 May . Underway again on 9 June , she touched Marseille to embark 2 , 800 troops for redeployment to the Pacific theater and brought them safely to Manila on 6 August 1945 via Panama . She brought nearly 500 officers and men from Manila to Tacloban , Leyte , Philippine Islands , and after embarking 1 , 500 veterans there , sailed via Ulithi and Guam to off - load her passengers at Seattle , Washington , on 4 September . Continuing her Magic Carpet duties , " General Omar Bundy " transported 3 , 000 replacement troops from Seattle to Okinawa in late September and October , returning to Portland , Oregon , on 2 November 1945 with nearly 3 , 000 victorious soldiers . The ship returned to the Philippines in November to embark 3 , 300 returning veterans , and brought them home to San Francisco on 19 December 1945 . In 1946 " General Omar Bundy " continued her " Magic - Carpet " and troop rotation duties , homeported at San Francisco and calling at Japan and Manila in February and at the Philippines again in April , returning to San Francisco after this last round - trip voyage and sailed from that port 17 May 1946 bound for New York via the Panama Canal . She decommissioned 14 June 1946 and was delivered to the Maritime Commission the next day . " General Omar Bundy " was struck from the Navy list on 8 October 1946 . The transport was transferred to the War Department 30 August 1946 and for delivery to the Army . On 11 June 1949 USAT " General Omar Bundy " left Naples with 842 displaced persons from Europe and arrived in Sydney on 8 July 1949 . This voyage was one of almost 150 voyages by some 40 ships bringing refugees of World War II to Australia . " General Omar Bundy " made one more such trip herself , arriving in Sydney , again , with 842 refugees on 8 July 1949 . The ship was returned to the Maritime Commission on 12 December 1949 . " General Omar Bundy " entered the National Defense Reserve Fleet and was berthed in the James River until delivered to the Bethlehem Steel Corp . 10 April 1964 . Converted to a freighter , she operated under the name " Portmar " . She was sold to Ashley Steamship Co . , Inc . on 10 August 1976 and renamed SS " Port " . " Port " was sold to Hamilton Eugenia Corp . on 11 May 1979 and renamed SS " Poet " . In 1980 " Poet " went missing and was presumed sunk . A series of articles in The Philadelphia Inquirer by maritime writer Robert R . Frump stated that the SS " Poet " " and other World War II vessels , were kept in service long past their useful lifetimes by US government programs such as the PL 480 Food for Peace , which required that American - built vessels carry surplus American grain to poor nations abroad . The articles about the " Poet " and later , the sinking of the , helped bring about stricter enforcement of maritime laws . The system that kept the old ships at sea was described in Frump ' s book , " Until the Sea Shall Free Them . "