USS General M . B . Stewart ( AP - 140 ) USS " General M . B . Stewart " ( AP - 140 ) was a for the U . S . Navy in World War II . She was named in honor of U . S . Army general Merch Bradt Stewart . She was transferred to the U . S . Army as USAT " General M . B . Stewart in 1946 . On 1 March 1950 she was transferred to the Military Sea Transportation Service ( MSTS ) as USNS " General M . B . Stewart " ( T - AP - 140 ) . She was later sold for commercial operation under the name SS " Albany , before being scrapped in July 1987 . Operational history . " General M . B . Stewart " ( AP - 140 ) was launched 15 October 1944 under Maritime Commission contract ( MC # 707 ) by Kaiser Co . , Inc . , Yard 3 , Richmond , California ; sponsored by Mrs . M . B . Stewart ; acquired by the Navy and simultaneously commissioned at San Francisco 3 March 1945 , Captain Minor C . Heine in command . Following shakedown out of San Diego , " General M . B . Stewart " sailed from San Francisco 2 April 1945 with more than 3 , 000 troops for Pearl Harbor . After returning to San Francisco 18 April with 1 , 500 veterans embarked , she made a round - trip voyage out of San Francisco from 26 April to 19 June to transport troops to Pearl Harbor ; the Admiralty Islands ; and Leyte , Philippine Islands . She then departed San Francisco 26 June for Atlantic operations . Reaching Norfolk 11 July , she sailed the 22d to Leghorn , Italy , where she arrived 5 August to embark troops for redeployment in the Pacific . Underway 7 August for the Panama Canal , " General M . B . Stewart " steamed for the East Coast after the Japanese capitulation and arrived 19 August to debark her passengers . Between late August and early November , " General M . B . Stewart " made two round - trip " Magic - Carpet " voyages to France and a third voyage to India and Ceylon . Departing New York 7 December , she sailed via the Suez Canal to India where she arrived Karachi 28 December to embark 3 , 300 returning veterans . She sailed 30 December for the United States and arrived Seattle 25 January 1946 . From 5 March to 4 April she sailed to Japan with occupation troops and returned to Seattle with military passengers . Sailing for New York 22 April , " General M . B . Stewart " arrived 11 May and decommissioned 24 May . The ship was turned over to WSA for duty in Army Transport Service , who rebuilt her to 12 , 521 gross tons . On 12 February 1948 USAT " General M . B . Stewart " arrived in Fremantle , Western Australia with 857 displaced person s from Europe . This voyage was the second of almost 150 " Fifth Fleet " voyages by some 40 ships bringing refugees of World War II to Australia . " General M . B . Stewart " made four more such trips herself : arriving in Melbourne ( from Naples ) on 13 April 1949 with 816 refugees ; in Adelaide on 20 July 1949 with 816 ; in Melbourne 30 January 1950 with 1 , 262 ; and finally arriving in Sydney on 17 April 1950 with 1 , 292 displaced persons . The transport was reacquired by the Navy 1 March 1950 for use by MSTS . During the rest of 1950 she made two voyages to the Far East , carrying U . S . troops to Japan and Korea . Between 1950 and 1955 " General M . B . Stewart " also sailed from Bremerhaven , Germany , to New York and Halifax , Nova Scotia , transporting thousands of European refugees to the United States and Canada under the International Refugee Organization . In 1953 she made another voyage to Korea and transported home veteran troops before returning to her regular Bremerhaven - New York schedule . She maintained this pattern until being placed in Reduced Operational Status at New York 29 April 1955 . She was finally transferred back to the Maritime Administration 21 May 1958 and was placed in the National Defense Reserve Fleet , Hudson River , New York where she remained until 1967 . At that time , she was sold to Albany River Transport Inc . of New York and rebuilt as a cargo ship by Todd Shipyard in Brooklyn . Renamed SS " Albany " when she entered commercial service in December 1968 , the 10 , 530 gross ton cargo ship was sold to Avondale Shipyards , Inc . who converted her into Drill Ship " Mission Viking " for Mission Drilling & Exploration Corporation ( later Mission Viking , Inc . ) of New Orleans . In 1978 , " Mission Viking " was central to a dispute between Mission Viking , Inc . and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration ( OSHA ) . OSHA inspectors cited two workers aboard the vessel while it was docked at Bender Shipbuilding and Repair Co . , Inc . in Mobile , Alabama . Because of the nature of the work involved on the vessel , OSHA believed it had the authority to enforce its regulations aboard the barge . The owners , however , insisted that because the vessel was licensed with the Coast Guard and the work performed was done by crew members , that the Coast Guard , and not OSHA , had authority over the vessel ‘ s operations . In an appeal heard in 1981 , OSHA ' s view prevailed . In 1981 " Mission Viking " was transferred to Manufacturers Hanover Leasing Corp . of Panama . The ship was scrapped in July 1987 . " General M . B . Stewart " received one battle star for Korean War service .