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Photo # NH 103420:  USS Admiral E. W. Eberle in San Francisco Bay, California, in late 1945 or early 1946.

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USNS General Simon B. Buckner (T-AP-123), 1945-1997.
Previously USS Admiral E. W. Eberle (AP-123) and U.S. Army Transport General Simon B. Buckner

USS Admiral E. W. Eberle, a 9,676-ton (light displacement) Admiral W. S. Benson-class transport built by the Maritime Commission to its P2-SE2-R1 design, was commissioned in January 1945 with a largely Coast Guard crew. She departed San Francisco in March with troops and supplies for the Southwest Pacific, then moved to the Philippines where she embarked over 2,000 formerly interned civilians for repatriation to the United States. After arriving at San Pedro, California, in early May Admiral E. W. Eberle went to the Atlantic, where in June and early July she made a crossing carrying troops from Naples, Italy to Trinidad and another returning servicemen to the United States from Le Havre, France. In July and August the transport carried troops from Marseilles, France to the Philippines. After upkeep at Seattle, she made three voyages from the West Coast to Japan and Korea between October 1945 and March 1946. Admiral E. W. Eberle was decommissioned in May 1946 and transferred via the Maritime Commission to the Army.

The Army soon renamed the ship General Simon B. Buckner and operated her with a civilian crew as part of its water transportation service. She returned to the Navy in March 1950 when most of the larger Army ships became part of the newly-created Military Sea Transportation Service. Still civilian-manned and retaining her "General" name, the ship made numerous crossings of the Pacific in support of the Korean War. In February 1955 she departed San Francisco for New York, and during the next ten years completed over 130 Atlantic voyages between New York and Bremerhaven, West Germany, with some stops at Southampton, England, and trips to the Mediterranean. Between August and December 1965 the Buckner twice steamed from California to Vietnam, then returned to the East Coast and made ten more trips from New York to Bremerhaven and Southampton. She moved definitively to the West Coast in August 1966, supporting U.S. operations in Southeast Asia until March 1970, when she was placed out of service and returned to the Maritime Administration. Laid up during the following two decades, USNS General Simon B. Buckner was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in August 1990 and sold by the Maritime Administration in June 1997 for scrapping.

This page features, and provides links to, selected views concerning USS Admiral E. W. Eberle (AP-123), USAT General Simon B. Buckner and USNS General Simon B. Buckner (T-AP-123).

For more images related to this ship, see:

  • USNS General Simon B. Buckner (T-AP-123) -- Part II.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: NH 103420

    USS Admiral E. W. Eberle
    (AP-123)

    Photographed circa late 1945 or early 1946, possibly at San Francisco.
    Note that the ship's four 5"/38 guns have been removed. This probably occurred during an upkeep period at Seattle in September 1945.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 78KB; 740 x 545 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 103621

    USS Admiral E.W. Eberle
    (AP-123)

    Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken in 1945 by her builder, the Bethlehem-Alameda Shipyard, Inc., of Alameda, California.
    Transferred to the U.S. Army in 1946 and renamed General Simon B. Buckner, this ship became USNS General Simon B. Buckner (T-AP-123) in 1950.

    Copied from the book "Troopships of World War II", by Roland W. Charles.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 50KB; 740 x 405 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 105090

    USAT General Simon B. Buckner
    (U.S. Army Transport)

    Photographed circa 1946-1950.
    The original image is printed on postcard stock.
    Originally built as USS Admiral E.W. Eberle (AP-123), in 1950 this ship became USNS General Simon B. Buckner (T-AP-123).

    Donation of Charles R. Haberlein Jr., 2007.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image size: 62KB; 740 x 495 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 103563

    USNS General Simon B. Buckner
    (T-AP-123)

    Photographed in August 1951.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Military Sealift Command collection at the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 61KB; 740 x 605 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 103564

    USNS General Simon B. Buckner
    (T-AP-123)

    Photographed from an aircraft based at Naval Air Station, Seattle, Washington, 5 September 1952.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Military Sealift Command collection at the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 54KB; 740 x 505 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 103575

    USNS General Simon B. Buckner
    (T-AP-123)

    Photographed in March 1955 off Fort Mason, San Francisco, California.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Military Sealift Command collection at the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 69KB; 740 x 605 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 105100

    USNS General Simon B. Buckner
    (T-AP-123)

    Underway during the 1950s.
    Photographed by Boersig.
    The original image is printed on a postcard published by the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) for sale in its ships' stores.
    See Photo # NH 105100-A for a reproduction of the reverse side of this postcard.

    Donation of Charles R. Haberlein Jr., 2007.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image size: 82KB; 740 x 475 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 103565

    USNS General Simon B. Buckner
    (T-AP-123)

    Photographed during the 1950s or 1960s.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Military Sealift Command collection at the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 67KB; 740 x 605 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 103566-KN (color)

    USNS General Simon B. Buckner (T-AP-123)

    Letterpress reproduction of a photograph taken during the 1950s or 1960s.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Military Sealift Command collection at the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 85KB; 740 x 605 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 103567

    USNS General Simon B. Buckner
    (T-AP-123)

    Approaching her berth at Columbus Quay, Bremerhaven, West Germany. The tug Sirius is assisting. Buckner served on the New York to Bremerhaven route between 1955 and 1966.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Military Sealift Command collection at the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 74KB; 740 x 510 pixels

     


    For more images related to this ship, see:

  • USNS General Simon B. Buckner (T-AP-123) -- Part II.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 6 March 2006
    New images added and page divided 12 December 2007