USS General S . D . Sturgis ( AP - 137 ) USS " General S . D . Sturgis " ( AP - 137 ) was a for the U . S . Navy in World War II . She was named in honor of U . S . Army general Samuel Davis Sturgis . She was transferred to the U . S . Army as USAT " General S . D . Sturgis in 1946 . On 1 March 1950 she was transferred to the Military Sea Transportation Service ( MSTS ) as USNS " General S . D . Sturgis " ( T - AP - 137 ) . She was later sold for commercial operation under the name SS " Green Port , before being scrapped in 1980 . Operational history . " General S . D . Sturgis " was launched under Maritime Commission contract ( MC # 661 ) 12 November 1943 by Kaiser Co . , Inc . , Yard 3 , Richmond , California ; sponsored by Miss Rio Ivanhoe ; acquired by the Navy 31 March 1944 ; placed in ferry commission 24 April 1944 for transfer to Portland , Oregon ; decommissioned 25 May 1944 ; converted to a transport by Kaiser Co . , Inc . , Vancouver , Washington ; and placed in full commission at Portland , Oreg . , 10 July 1944 , Comdr . D . S . Baker in command . After shakedown calls at San Francisco and Los Angeles , " General S . D . Sturgis " arrived Seattle 10 August 1944 to embark cargo , troops , and passengers before getting underway 8 days later . She debarked troops and supplies at Honolulu 24 August and returned to San Francisco 2 September with hospital patients . From 27 September to 6 November the ship made one round - trip voyage from San Francisco to Pearl Harbor and one from Seattle before returning to San Francisco . She sailed from that port 16 November with troops and supplies bound for the Southwest Pacific . Touching Eniwetok 4 December and arriving at Ulithi 5 days later , she assumed duty there as a station receiving ship . " General S . D . Sturgis " carried part of Admiral Halsey ' s Third Fleet staff via Eniwetok to Pearl Harbor , finally reaching Seattle 19 February 1945 . From 6 April to 2 June she made a round - trip , troop - carrying voyage from San Francisco to Langemak Bay and Hollandia , New Guinea ; and San Pedro , Leyte as the Pacific campaigns reached a climax . She now headed for Europe , departing San Francisco 16 June for France . After embarking troops at Marseilles 9 July , she departed the next day to redeploy them in the Pacific . She arrived safely at Manila 20 August . After debarking her passengers , she made ready to sail to Tokyo . On 26 August — by this time painted in camouflage measure 32 , design 13T — the " Sturgis " sailed out of Mailla with officers and officials of the United States , Australia , Canada , Netherlands East Indies , China , and the Philippines . The ship reached Tokyo Bay on 31 August ; and two days later , the men carried by the " Sturgis " would be among the few who would witness the historic Japanese surrender ceremonies aboard . The ship was the only of her kind to be present in Tokyo Bay on Victory over Japan Day ( 2 September 1945 ) , when the Japanese Instrument of Surrender was signed . The ship got underway 26 September for Seattle , arriving there 8 October . She then made three round - trip voyages from the West Coast to Japanese ports , supporting occupation troops before departing San Francisco on an around - the - world voyage calling at Manila , Singapore , Calcutta , and Port Said , and arriving New York 10 May 1946 . She decommissioned 24 May 1946 and was delivered to WSA for peacetime operation as an Army transport . Rebuilt to 12 , 349 gross tons , USAT " General S . D . Sturgis " made 21 voyages between Germany and the U . S . with displaced person s . Among these refugees was Mrs . Marion Matewosian , a 99 - year - old Armenian woman , who arrived in New York on 1 October 1949 . Matewosian was said , in contemporary news accounts , to be the oldest person to come to the U . S . under the displaced persons program . In addition to its many trips to the U . S . with displaced persons , " General S . D . Sturgis " also delivered refugees to Australia , Argentina and Canada , as well . The ship departed Genoa on one such mission with 860 displaced persons from Europe and arrived in Sydney on 14 May 1948 . This voyage was one of almost 150 " Fifth Fleet " voyages by some 40 ships bringing refugees of World War II to Australia . " General S . D . Sturgis " made a trip , with displaced persons , from Bremerhaven , Germany , at the end of December 1948 , to Buenos Aires , Argentina , arriving there on 17 January 1949 . She made two more such trips , arriving in Sydney with 843 refugees on 21 May 1949 , and with 1 , 309 on 17 April 1950 . In the midst of these treks , " General S . D . Sturgis " was reacquired by the Navy 1 March 1950 , and was assigned to MSTS . Manned by civilians , she was re - designated T - AP - 137 , and continued the transportation of people fleeing the aftermath of the war . On 8 July 1949 , USNS " General S . D . Sturgis " arrived at Boston with 841 displaced persons from Europe ( mostly Poland and Lithuania ) . On 24 March 1951 , " General S . D . Sturgis " developed a leak on a trip to New York with 884 displaced persons aboard . The ship arrived at New York under her own power two days later . The ship was slated to carry 190 of its passengers on to New Orleans , but because of the inspection it was to undergo , transferred them to to continue their journey . As war broke out in Korea , " General S . D . Sturgis " took up the vital job of carrying U . N . troops to and from the Korean fighting . For the Korean War period , she sailed from New York to Bremerhaven and Mediterranean ports , embarking allied troops , and transported them to Pusan . Following the Armistice , the transport rotated Greek , Turkish , Ethiopian , and Philippine troops in Korea , helping to maintain the high state of readiness among U . N . forces in that volatile land . During 1955 , the ship made three voyages from New York to Bremerhaven , supporting American troops in Europe . She was placed in reduced operational status at New York 28 May 1955 . " General S . D . Sturgis " was later returned to the Maritime Administration and was placed in the National Defense Reserve Fleet , Beaumont , Texas , 22 August 1958 , where she remained until 1967 . She was sold at that time to Central Gulf Steamship Corp . of New Orleans , who rebuilt her as a cargo ship . Renamed SS " Green Port " , she entered commercial service in June 1968 . " Green Port " was laid up in San Francisco in 1979 and was scrapped at Kaohsiung , Taiwan in February 1980 " General S . D . Sturgis " received three battle star s for Korean War service .