USS Admiral R. E. Coontz

History
United States
Name	USS Admiral R. E. Coontz (AP-122)
Namesake	Admiral Robert Coontz, US Navy
Builder	Bethlehem-Alameda Shipyard Inc.,; Alameda, California;
Laid down	15 January 1943
Launched	22 April 1944
Sponsored by	Mrs. Edwin Kokko
Commissioned	21 November 1944
Renamed	USAT General Alexander M. Patch, circa April 1946
Namesake	General Alexander M. Patch, US Army
Renamed	USNS General Alexander M. Patch (T-AP-122), 3 March 1950
Out of service	1967
Stricken	20 August 1990
Identification	IMO number: 8424513
Fate	Sold for scrapping, 4 June 2001, to Esco Marine Inc., Brownsville, Texas
General characteristics
Class and type	Admiral W. S. Benson-class transport
Displacement	9,676 tons dockside; 20,120 tons fully laden;
Length	608 feet 11 inches (185.60 m)
Beam	75 feet 6 inches (23.01 m)
Draft	26 feet 6 inches (8.08 m)
Installed power	19,000 shp
Propulsion	turbo-electric transmission,; twin screw;
Speed	19 knots (35 km/h)
Capacity	100,000 cubic feet (2,800 m3) of cargo
Troops	5,200
Complement	officers – 32; enlisted – 324;
Armament	4 × 5-inch/38-caliber gun mounts; 8 × twin Bofors 40 mm gun mounts; 14 × twin Oerlikon 20 mm cannon gun mounts;

USS Admiral R. E. Coontz (AP-122) (later the USNS General Alexander M. Patch (T-AP-122)) was an Admiral W. S. Benson-class transport built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She was laid down under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 680) on 15 January 1943 at Alameda, California, by the Bethlehem Steel Corp., and launched on 22 April 1944. She was sponsored by Mrs. Edwin Kokko, daughter of Admiral Coontz, and commissioned on 21 November 1944.

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After service in both the Pacific and European Theaters of World War II, the Coontz was decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list in April 1946. Turned over to the U.S. War Department, she underwent repairs and alterations and was renamed General Alexander M. Patch, honoring General Alexander McCarrell Patch, commander of the victorious U.S. Army XIV Corps at Guadalcanal, and of the Seventh Army in the invasion of Southern France in 1944 and Germany in 1945.

In the Army Transport Service she carried troops and cargo between Europe and the United States through 1950, rescued refugees during the Suez Crisis of 1956, made nearly 125 round-trips to West Germany in the early 1960s, in part helping to break the Berlin Blockade, then carried troops mid-decade on numerous trips to South Vietnam and from South Korea to South Vietnam in support of U.S. military operations in Southeast Asia.

Placed in reserve in 1967, the Patch was transferred to the U.S. Maritime Administration in 1970 and placed in reserve in the United States National Defense Reserve Fleet in the James River, Virginia. In June 2001 she was sold to Esco Marine, Inc., of Brownsville, Texas, for scrapping.

History

In World War II

Following shakedown training out of San Pedro, CA, the transport embarked troops at San Francisco and sailed for the western Pacific on 3 January 1945. After pausing briefly at Pearl Harbor she reached Ulithi, in the Western Carolines, on 23 January and served there as station ship until 19 March when she headed homeward. Admiral R. E. Coontz made one additional voyage from San Francisco to Ulithi. On her return she touched at San Francisco and San Diego, transited the Panama Canal, and pushed on across the Atlantic to France. She embarked troops for transfer to the Pacific theater; cleared Marseilles on 21 July; and reached Pearl Harbor on 12 August. Underway soon again, she paused at Eniwetok, Saipan, and Guam en route to Ulithi which she reached on 28 August, almost a fortnight after Japan capitulated.

Leaving the Western Carolines on 12 September, Admiral R. E. Coontz sailed for Okinawa, whence she sailed on 27 September for the west coast of the United States. Making port at Bremerton, Washington, the transport embarked occupation troops before getting underway for Japan on 24 October. After disembarking troops at Nagasaki on 6 November and at Nagoya two days later, Admiral R. E. Coontz then made two round-trip voyages between Yokohama and Seattle. She then proceeded to Okinawa to embark passengers for the return voyage to the United States. Sailing for Hawaii, the transport embarked more troops at Pearl Harbor and reached New York City on 11 March 1946.

As General Alexander M. Patch

The Coontz entered the Todd Shipyard, Brooklyn, NY, on 17 March 1946 and was decommissioned there on the 25th. Stricken from the Navy list in April 1946 and turned over to the War Department, the ship underwent a period of repairs and alterations and was renamed General Alexander M. Patch, honoring General Alexander McCarrell Patch, commander of the victorious U.S. Army XIV Corps at Guadalcanal, and of the Seventh Army in the invasion of Southern France in 1944 and Germany in 1945.

In the Army Transport Service, General Alexander M. Patch carried troops and cargo between Europe and the United States from 1946 to 1950. Reacquired by the Navy on 3 March 1950, the ship operated for the next two decades as USNS General Alexander M. Patch (T-AP-122) with the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS), later renamed the Military Sealift Command(MSC). From 1950 to 1965 the ship conducted 123 round-trip voyages between Bremerhaven and New York, with an additional 16 voyages to the Mediterranean. Among her passengers was Mrs. Alexander M. Patch, the widow of the general for whom the ship had been named.

Among her operations was the embarkation of over 1,500 refugees in the Suez Crisis in November 1956. The transport took them from Souda Bay, Crete—where they had been brought from Alexandria, Egypt, and Haifa, Israel, by American warships – to Naples. Late in 1961, in the international tensions spawned by the Soviet Union's closure of access to West Berlin, General Alexander M. Patch participated in the massive lift of American troops to Europe.

In August 1965, growing American involvement in the Vietnam War prompted the transfer of MSTS ships from the Atlantic to the Pacific. General Alexander M. Patch commenced her first Vietnam voyage at New York on 15 August. Steaming via Charleston, SC, and Long Beach, CA, the transport reached Qui Nhon, South Vietnam, on 16 September. Returning via Cam Ranh Bay, Vung Tau, and Okinawa—to San Francisco on 2 October, the ship conducted one more voyage to Vietnam in 1965, reaching Vung Tau on 9 November. Clearing Vung Tau later that day, she returned to New York by way of Penang, Malaysia; Rota, Spain; and Bremerhaven.

For the first six months of 1966, General Alexander M. Patch operated between New York and Bremerhaven. The Vietnam War once again compelled MSTS to switch some of its transports to the Pacific. General Alexander M. Patch and her sistership, USNS General William O. Darby (T-AP-127), embarked of the Army's 196th Light Infantry Brigade at Boston and departed on 15 July. Transiting the Panama Canal, the two transports reached Vung Tau, South Vietnam, on 13 August, ending the longest (12,358 nautical miles) point-to-point troop lift in the 17 years that MSTS had been in operation. Before the year was out, General Alexander M. Patch conducted two troop lifts of Republic of Korea troops from Pusan to South Vietnam.

Placed in reserve in New York's upper bay along with three of her sisterships by the summer of 1967, General Alexander M. Patch was transferred to the custody of the Maritime Administration on 26 May 1970 and placed in reserve in the United States National Defense Reserve Fleet in the James River, Virginia.

Fate

The General Alexander M. Patch was sold for scrapping, 4 June 2001, to Esco Marine Inc., Brownsville, Texas.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive USNS General Alexander M. Patch (T-AP-122) ex USAT General Alexander M. Patch ex-USS Admiral R. E. Coontz (AP-122)