USS General W. M. Black (AP-135)
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
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| Namesake: | William Murray Black |
| Builder: | |
| Laid down: | 26 November 1942 |
| Launched: | 23 July 1943 |
| Acquired: | 26 January 1944 |
| Commissioned: | 24 February 1944 |
| Decommissioned: | 28 February 1946 |
| In service: |
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| Out of service: |
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| Renamed: | SS Green Forest |
| Reclassified: | T-AP-135, 1 March 1950 |
| Fate: | scrapped 1980 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | General G. O. Squier-class transport ship |
| Displacement: | 9,950 tons (light), 17,250 tons (full) |
| Length: | 522 ft 10 in (159.36 m) |
| Beam: | 71 ft 6 in (21.79 m) |
| Draft: | 26 ft 6 in (8.08 m) |
| Propulsion: | single-screw steam turbine with 9,900 shp (7,400 kW) |
| Speed: | 17 knots (31 km/h) |
| Capacity: | 3,823 troops |
| Complement: | 512 (officers and enlisted) |
| Armament: |
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USS General W. M. Black (AP-135) was a General G. O. Squier-class transport ship for the U.S. Navy in World War II. The ship was crewed by the U.S. Coast Guard until decommissioning. She was named in honor of U.S. Army general William Murray Black. She was transferred to the U.S. Army as USAT General W. M. Black in 1946. On 1 March 1950 she was transferred to the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) as USNS General W. M. Black (T-AP-135). She was later sold for commercial operation under the name SS Green Forest, before being scrapped in 1980.
General W. M. Black (AP-135) was laid down under a Maritime Commission contract (MC #658) 26 November 1942 by Kaiser Co., Inc., Yard 3, Richmond, California; launched 23 July 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Decatur S. Higgins; acquired by the Navy 26 January 1944; converted to a transport by Matson Navigation Co., San Francisco; and commissioned 24 February 1944, Captain J. P. Murray, USCG, in command.
One of the most active ships of her type, General W. M. Black plied the world's oceans and touched many distant ports in completing her varied missions as a troopship. On her first voyage she embarked 3,500 Army troops and sailed from San Francisco 26 March 1944, delivering them at Pearl Harbor before returning to San Francisco 9 April with nearly 500 veterans. Underway again 22 April, General W. M. Black carried 3,500 troops from San Francisco to New Caledonia and Guadalcanal. She departed Guadalcanal 14 May, embarked 2,700 at Balboa, Canal Zone, and reached New Orleans 8 June. The transport subsequently steamed to Kingston, Jamaica, where she embarked 2,400 passengers and sailed to Norfolk, arriving 26 June.
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