USS General R . M . Blatchford ( AP - 153 ) USS " General R . M . Blatchford " ( AP - 153 ) was a for the U . S . Navy in World War II . She was named in honor of U . S . Army general Richard M . Blatchford . She was transferred to the U . S . Army as USAT " General R . M . Blatchford in 1946 . On 1 March 1950 she was transferred to the Military Sea Transportation Service ( MSTS ) as USNS " General R . M . Blatchford " ( T - AP - 153 ) . She was later sold for commercial operation under the names SS " Stonewall Jackson and Alex Stephens , before being scrapped in 1980 . Operational history . " General R . M . Blatchford " ( AP - 153 ) was launched 27 August 1944 under a Maritime Commission contract ( MC # 705 ) by the Kaiser Co . , Richmond , California ; sponsored by Mrs . William Anderson of San Francisco ; acquired and simultaneously commissioned 26 January 1945 , Comdr . Allen H . Guthrie in command . " General R . M . Blatchford " sailed from San Francisco 12 March 1945 with over 3000 fighting men and debarked them at Manila 13 April , returning to San Francisco 22 May to off - load 2000 troops taken on board at Biak and Finschhafen . She sailed 30 May for France via the Panama Canal , touched at Le Havre 20 June , and debarked more than 3 , 000 returning troops at Boston 1 July . Five days later the transport sailed to redeploy troops from the European to the Pacific theater , embarking 3000 soldiers at Leghorn , Italy , and bringing them safely to Luzon and Manila in August 1945 . " General R . M . Blatchford " embarked more than 1 , 000 troops and casualties at San Pedro , Philippine Islands , and put in at Seattle 30 September 1945 . Continuing her Magic Carpet assignments , the ship sailed from Seattle 16 October with 2 , 800 rotation troops and debarked them at Nagoya , Japan , where 3 , 000 homeward veterans were loaded and put ashore at San Francisco 20 November . From 28 November 1945 – 7 May 1946 three more round trip voyages from Seattle to the Far East were made , the transport bringing near - capacity loads of troops to and from Nagoya , Yokohama , and Shanghai and mooring at San Francisco 7 May 1946 with completion of these duties . On 9 May " General R . M . Blatchford " departed for Norfolk , via the Panama Canal and moored at that port 24 May . She was decommissioned at Baltimore , Maryland , on 12 June 1946 and returned to the Maritime Commission for operations as an Army transport . On 16 October 1949 USAT " General R . M . Blatchford " left Naples with 1 , 219 displaced persons from Europe and arrived in Sydney on 11 November 1949 . This voyage was one of almost 150 voyages by some 40 ships bringing refugees of World War II to Australia . " General R . M . Blatchford " made one more such trip herself , arriving in Sydney , again , with 1 , 222 refugees on 19 February 1950 . The USNS R . M . Blatchford ( T - AP153 ) made at least two more trips carrying refugees ; she sailed from Bremerhaven , Germany across the Atlantic Ocean with refugees from Germany , Poland , Russia , Czechoslovakia and other countries and arrived at the Port of New York on 25 September and 15 December 1951 . She was reacquired by the Navy on 1 March 1950 for operations by a Civil Service crew under the MSTS transported thousands of troops from the West Coast in support of United Nations Forces in Korea . On 11 February 1961 she sailed from New York for two and a half years overseas service in the United Nations Congo sealift . Earning her the nickname of " Ambassador Ship , " her crew cemented goodwill relations for the United States in the best traditions of the People - to - People Program while helping to keep the peace in the Congo . The veteran transport travelled in ferrying 36 , 809 passengers to and from the Congo , Morocco , India , Pakistan , Malaya , and Indonesia . She circumnavigated the African continent several times and criss - crossed the Indian Ocean repeatedly while rotating United Nations soldiers , doctors , nurses , and technicians assigned to the Congo . " General R . M . Blatchford " arrived New York on 11 August 1963 with high praise . She continued to operate in the Atlantic supporting U . S . Forces in Europe until transferred to the Pacific in 1965 to carry troops to Vietnam . She continued this vital task until overhauled at San Francisco in January 1967 and entering ready reserve status . " General R . M . Blatchford " was transferred to the Maritime Administration in September 1968 and entered the National Defense Reserve Fleet . In 1969 , " General R . M . Blatchford " was sold to Waterman Carriers , Inc . of New York in January 1969 . At Portland , she was rebuilt as a 10 , 562 gross ton container ship and renamed SS " Stonewall Jackson " in 1970 . The ship , renamed " Alex Stephens " in 1973 , was acquired by the Department of Commerce in 1979 , and sold to Chien Yu Steel Enterprises , Kaohsiung , Taiwan for scrapping on 13 April 1980 . " General R . M . Blatchford " received two battle star s for service during the Korean War .