General C. O. Squier AP-130

General C. O. Squier

George Owen Squier was born in Dryden, Mich., 21 March 1863 and graduated from the Military Academy in 1877. After first entering the Army as an artillery officer, Squier joined the Signal Corps, rising to Major by 1903. He commanded cable-ship Burnside during the laying of the Philippine cable from 1900 to 1902. He was appointed Chief Signal Officer of the Army 14 February 1917, and was promoted to Major General 6 October. He also served as Chief of the Army Air Service 1916 to 1918. General Squier was the author of numerous articles and papers on technical subjects, and is credited with several important inventions in the fields of radio and electronics. He took part in his later life in several international conferences on communications and attended the 1921 Washington Conference on Naval Limitations for the War Department. General Squier died 24 March l934.

(AP-130: dp. 17,260; 1. 522'10", b. 71'6", dr. 26'6";

x. 16.5 k; cpl. 356; trp. 3,823; a. 4 5"; cl. General C. O. Squier; T C4-.3 A1)

General C. O. Squier (AP-130) was launched 11 November 1942 under Maritime Commission contract by the kaiser Co., Richmond, Calif.; sponsored by Miss Mary Ann Somersvell; acquired 30 August 1943 and commissioned 2 October, Captain A. E. Uehlinger in Command.

General C. O. Squier made three round-trip, troop carrying voyages out of San Francisco from 29 October 1943 by 30 March 1944 to Noumea; Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Wallis Island, Samoa, Noumea, and Honolulu respectively. Underway again from San Francisco 7 April she brought troops to Noumea and Milne Bay before heading for Norfolk, where she arrived 2 June. On l July the ship departed with 3,300 troops for Italy, and debarked them at Naples. Following a voyage thence to Oran and back, General C. O. Squier joined Task Force 87 off Naples 13 August in preparation for Operation "Dragoon," the amphibious invasion of Southern France.

Arriving off Cap Camarat 15 August, she debarked her troops into waiting LCI's which put them ashore to become another deadly prong thrust deeply into Hilter's "Heartland." The next day she headed for Oran to bring nearly 3,000 troops back to the Cap Camarat beachhead on the 30th. General C. O. Squier returned to New York 26 September with casualties and prisoners of war embarked at Naples.

From 14 October 1944 to 14 September 1945, she made 10 transatlantic, troops carrying and rotation voyages: 7 from New York, 2 from Norfolk, and 1 from Boston, to ports in the United Kingdom ( Plymouth, Southampton, and Avon mouth) and France (Le Havre and Marseilles. Between 20 September 1945 and 18 June 1946, six other round-trip, "Magic-Carpet" voyages out of New York at war's end brought home veterans from the Far East (Karachi, Calcutta, and Colombo) and Europe (Le Havre, Leghorn, and Bremerhaven). General C. O. Squier reached Norfolk 22 June and decommissioned 10 July 1946. Returned to WSA 1 8 July 1946, she entered the National Defense Reserve F`leet at James River, VA. She was sold to the Bethlehem Steel Corp. 7 April 1964, converted to a general cargo ship, and renamed Pennmar 27 May 1965.

General C. O. Squier was awarded one battle star for World War II service.