USS U . S . Grant ( AP - 29 ) USS " U . S . Grant " ( AP - 29 ) was a transport ship that saw service with the United States Navy in World War II . Originally a German ocean liner named Konig Wilhelm II , she was seized by the United States during the First World War and renamed " USS Madawaska " ( ID - 3011 ) in 1917 before being renamed USS " U . S . Grant " ( AP - 29 ) in 1922 . World War I . " Konig Wilhelm II " was a steel - hulled screw steamer launched on 20 July 1907 at Stettin , Germany , by Vulcan Aktiengesellschaft . Built for the transatlantic passenger trade , " Konig Wilhelm II " operated between Hamburg , Germany , and Buenos Aires , Argentina , under the house flag of the Hamburg - Amerika Line , until the outset of World War I in 1914 . Voluntarily interned at Hoboken , New Jersey , to avoid being captured by the Royal Navy , the passenger liner was seized after the United States entered the war on 6 April 1917 , as were all other German vessels in American ports . Before agents of the U . S . federal government took possession of the ship , her German crew unsuccessfully attempted to render her unusable by cracking her main steam cylinders with hydraulic jack s . Following repairs to the damaged machinery , " Konig Wilhelm II " was assigned the identification number 3011 and commissioned on 27 August 1917 , Lt . Charles McCauley in temporary command pending the arrival of Comdr . Edward H . Watson . Renamed " Madawaska " on 1 September , the ship was assigned to the Cruiser and Transport Force of the Atlantic Fleet . During World War I , she conducted 10 transatlantic voyages in which she carried nearly 12 , 000 men to Europe . After the armistice of 11 November 1918 , " Madawaska " made seven more voyages , bringing 17 , 000 men home from the European theater . She completed the last of these runs upon her arrival at New York on 23 August 1919 . She was decommissioned by the Navy on 2 September and simultaneously transferred to the War Department . Between the wars . Sailing for the Pacific soon thereafter , " Madawaska " embarked elements of the Czech Legion at Vladivostok , Russia , early in 1920 , as part of the evacuation of that force in the wake of the Russian Civil War in Siberia . The ship sailed to Terst , Italy , and disembarked her Czech passengers to return to their homeland . Subsequently sailing for New York , " Madawaska " was inactivated and turned over to the US Shipping Board for lay - up . The following year , however , the War Department reacquired the vessel and authorized a major refit for her before she could resume active service . During this overhaul , which would last through the spring of 1922 , the ship was fitted with modern marine watertube boilers for greater safety in operation and to enable the ship to make increased speed . On 3 June 1922 , at Brooklyn , New York , the transport was renamed " U . S . Grant " ; Princess Cantacuzene , wife of Major General Prince Cantacuzene , Count Speransky of Russia , and a granddaughter of General Ulysses S . Grant , christened the ship . For almost two decades , " U . S . Grant " soldiered on in the Army Transport Service , maintaining a regular schedule of voyages carrying troops , passengers , and supplies along a route which included calls at San Francisco , California ; Honolulu , Territory of Hawaii ; Guam ; Manila , Philippine Islands ; Chinwangtao and Shanghai , China ; the Panama Canal Zone , and New York . For many of these years of service in the Pacific , " U . S . Grant " served as the sole source of refrigerated stores from the United States . Her periodic arrivals at Apra Harbor invariably produced a temporary improvement in the diet of Americans living in Guam . Run aground at Guam . On one voyage to Guam , the transport was nearly lost . On the late afternoon of 19 May 1939 , " U . S . Grant " ran aground on the dangerous inner reef in the as - yet unfinished harbor . Fortunately , the accident did not occur during typhoon season . The combined efforts of minesweeper and oil depot ship failed to budge the ship off the coral , leading the Acting Governor of Guam , Comdr . George W . Johnson , to hit upon a plan of action in collaboration ( by radio ) with Capt . Richmond K . Turner , in heavy cruiser , which was then en route to the island . For 21 hours , members of the U . S . Naval Insular Force and local stevedores unloaded 300 tons of cargo from the grounded " U . S . Grant " , while much of her fuel was transferred to " Robert L . Barnes " and " Admiral Halstead " . " Astoria " - en route for the United States after carrying Japanese Ambassador Hiroshi Saito ' s ashes back to his homeland - arrived at 0630 on 21 May . She took up her assigned position , as did " Penguin " , " Robert L . Barnes " and " Admiral Halstead " ; at 0809 " U . S . Grant " lurched free of the coral reef , to the accompaniment of cheers from the transport ' s crew . The island ' s newspaper , The Guam Recorder , subsequently reported in its June 1939 edition : " The short time in which the difficult operation was carried out was due to the efficient cooperation of all . . . involved , the Army , Navy , and Merchant Marine . " All cargo was soon reloaded , and " U . S . Grant " resumed her voyage . She continued under the aegis of the Army Transportation Service through 1940 . Then as war clouds gathered in the Pacific and Atlantic , " U . S . Grant " was subsequently reacquired by the Navy . Armed with seven 3 - inch guns ( she had been unarmed while serving as an Army transport ) , the vessel was refitted at the Mare Island Navy Yard , Vallejo , California , and was commissioned on 16 June 1941 , Capt . Herbert R . Hein in command . Continuing her service as a transport , the ship received the classification of AP - 29 . World War II . Aleutian Islands . " U . S . Grant " operated between ports on the west coast and into the Aleutian Islands through the outbreak of war in the Pacific on 7 December 1941 . She carried passengers and cargo to Alaskan ports as the United States built up its defenses in that area against possible thrusts by Japan . In February and March 1942 , " U . S . Grant " conducted voyages to the Hawaiian Islands . During the former month , she returned some 1 , 000 enemy aliens ( mostly Japanese with a sprinkling of Germans ) for placement in internment camps in the southwestern United States . Among these passengers was prisoner of war number one , Lt . Kazuo Sakamaki , whose midget submarine had run aground off Barbers Point , Oahu , on 7 December 1941 . In April , " U . S . Grant " resumed trips to Alaskan ports carrying troops from Seattle to American bases on the Alaskan mainland and in the Aleutians and continued this vital routine until the spring of 1942 . The Battle of the Coral Sea during May 1942 convinced the Japanese that a thrust at Midway Island was imperative , in an attempt to draw out the American fleet - particularly the dwindling number of vital aircraft carriers . Consequently , a powerful Japanese fleet sailed for Midway , while a smaller task force headed northward for the Aleutians to launch a diversionary raid . Carrier - based planes from the carrier struck Dutch Harbor , Alaska , on 3 June , and Japanese troops occupied Attu and Kiska islands on the 7th . During this time , " U . S . Grant " carried troops to Kodiak , Alaska , and Cold Bay into the summer . She narrowly escaped being torpedo ed while proceeding from Seattle to Dutch Harbor in convoy on 20 July . Alert lookouts picked out the tracks of two torpedoes and evasive action enabled the ship to avoid the deadly " fish " which passed close aboard , from starboard to port . The venerable transport disembarked Army troops at Massacre Bay on 14 June , three days after the initial landings . The following month , as American and Canadian troops prepared to assault Kiska , Rear Admiral Francis W . Rockwell broke his flag in " U . S . Grant " as Commander , Task Force 51 . During this operation , " U . S . Grant " served as combination transport and communications vessel . The Americans eventually discovered that the Japanese had stolen away like nomads , leaving only a few dogs to " contest " the landings , and had completed their evacuation , undetected by the Allies , by 28 July . During the Kiska landings , the transport not only carried Army troops , but also a Mexican liaison group ; a detachment of Canadian troops , and a group of civilian correspondents . After a period of repairs in late 1943 , which lasted into 1944 , " U . S . Grant " resumed coastwise voyages to Alaska . Caribbean and Pacific service . From April to December , she shifted to the eastern Pacific to operate between Hawaii and the west coast . She often embarked medical patients to return them to the west coast from Hawaiian area hospitals . Arriving at San Francisco after one such voyage on 23 January 1945 , " U . S . Grant " disembarked passengers and got underway the same afternoon without passengers or escort , bound for the Caribbean . Transiting the Panama Canal , after embarking passengers at Balboa , the ship operated in the Caribbean for the next six months , between the West Indies and New Orleans , Louisiana , until the end of the war . " U . S . Grant " returned to Pacific duty in September , departing San Francisco on the 18th for Okinawa , via Eniwetok . She arrived at Okinawa on 12 October , in the wake of a destructive typhoon , and took on board 1 , 273 passengers for transportation to the United States , getting underway from the island on 21 October . Arriving at San Francisco on 7 November , " U . S . Grant " disembarked her passengers soon thereafter . Decommission . One week later , on 14 November , the transport was decommissioned and returned to the War Department . Her name was struck from the Navy List on 28 November . Turned over to the Maritime Commission , the erstwhile transport and veteran of two world wars was sold to the Boston Metals Company , on 24 February 1948 for scrapping . Awards . " U . S . Grant " received one battle star for her World War II service .