USNS ''Sgt. Andrew Miller'' (T-AK-242) was built as Victory ship SS ''Radcliffe Victory'', a , built at the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. She served during the war and its demilitarization as a commercial cargo vessel operated by

American West African Lines Barber Steamship Lines was founded in 1902 as Barber & Company Inc. and also operated the New York & Oriental Steamship Company. In 1928 Barber Steamship Lines operated the American West African Line. In 1945 Barber Steamship Lines was renamed t ...

under

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...

with the

Maritime Commission The United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 195 ...

and

War Shipping Administration The War Shipping Administration (WSA) was a World War II emergency war agency of the US government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the United States needed for fighting the war. Both shipbuilding under the Maritime Co ...

. From 1946 to 1950, she served the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

as a transport named USAT ''Sgt. Andrew Miller''. In 1950, she was acquired by the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

and assigned to the

Military Sea Transportation Service Military Sealift Command (MSC) is an organization that controls the replenishment and military transport ships of the United States Navy. Military Sealift Command has the responsibility for providing sealift and ocean transportation for all US m ...

(MSTS). In 1981 she ended her career and was placed into reserve.

Victory ship built in California

SS ''Radcliffe Victory'' was laid down on 22 February 1945, under a

(MARCOM) contract, MCV hull No. 743, by the

Permanente Metals Corporation Permanente Metals Corporation (PMC) is best known for having managed the Richmond Shipyards in Richmond, California, owned by one of industrialist Henry J. Kaiser's many corporations, and also engaged in related corporate activities. These four ...

, Yard No. 2,

Richmond, California Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was municipal corporation, incorporated on August 7, 1905, and has a Richmond, California City Council, city council.

; launched on 4 April 1945; sponsored by Mrs. Charles H. Owens; and delivered to MARCOM's

(WSA) on 28 April 1945, for operation by the American-West African Line.

US Army service

After the end of World War II, ''Radcliffe Victory'' was returned to WSA and was further transferred to the

U.S. War Department The United States Department of War, also called the War Department (and occasionally War Office in the early years), was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army, a ...

for operation by the

Army Transportation Corps The Transportation Corps is a combat service support branch of the U.S. Army. It is responsible for the movement of personnel and material by truck, rail, air, and sea. It is one of three U.S. Army logistics branches, the others being the Qu ...

on 26 July 1946. Renamed ''Sgt. Andrew Miller'' on 31 October 1947, the cargo ship remained with the Army Transportation Corps until 1 March 1950.

Service with the MSTS

She was transferred to the Navy for operation by the newly established

(MSTS), becoming USNS ''Sgt. Andrew Miller'' (T-AK-242). Homeported at

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, ''Sgt. Andrew Miller'' made a round-trip run to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

and back in April; and, in May, she sailed for Yokosuka, Japan. From there, she continued on to

Naha is the capital city of Okinawa Prefecture, the southernmost prefecture of Japan. As of 1 June 2019, the city has an estimated population of 317,405 and a population density of 7,939 persons per km2 (20,562 persons per sq. mi.). The total area i ...

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

, whence she returned to the U.S. West Coast.

Korean War service

Arriving after the outbreak of war in

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

, she loaded cargo for units being shipped to Japan and Korea; and, on 18 July, she sailed west. On 3 August, she stopped at

Sasebo, Japan is a core city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. It is also the second largest city in Nagasaki Prefecture, after its capital, Nagasaki. On 1 June 2019, the city had an estimated population of 247,739 and a population density of 581 persons p ...

; and, on the 4th, she arrived off

Pusan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, w ...

to commence offloading. Two weeks later, she started back across the Pacific Ocean to

, where she took on more cargo; and, on 15 September, she again sailed west. During November, she delivered cargo at

Inchon Incheon (; ; or Inch'ŏn; literally "kind river"), formerly Jemulpo or Chemulp'o (제물포) until the period after 1910, officially the Incheon Metropolitan City (인천광역시, 仁川廣域市), is a city located in northwestern South Kore ...

and

Chinnampo Nampo (North Korean official spelling: Nampho; ), also spelled Namp'o, is the second largest city by population and an important seaport in North Korea, which lies on the northern shore of the Taedong River, 15 km east of the river's mouth. ...

; then put into

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

. In early December, she got underway for

Wonsan Wŏnsan (), previously known as Wŏnsanjin (), Port Lazarev, and Genzan (), is a port city and naval base located in Kangwŏn Province, North Korea, along the eastern side of the Korean Peninsula, on the Sea of Japan and the provincial capital. ...

but was diverted back to Yokohama, where she joined Task Group 90.2, the Hungnam evacuation force. On 13 December, she sailed for that

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

n port; where, from the 18th to the 20th, she took on men and equipment as units fought back to the harbor after the entry of Communist Chinese forces into the conflict. The ship offloaded at

; then returned to Sasebo, whence she made another run to Korea before sailing for

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...

and San Francisco. Arriving at the latter port in early February 1951, she made runs to bases in the Central Pacific Ocean and in the

Aleutians The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a chain of 14 large vo ...

into the summer; and, in August, she resumed runs to Japan and Korea. During April and May 1952, she again carried cargo to islands in the Central Pacific; then, in June, returned to logistics support of

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

forces in Korea. In September, her operations in the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

were extended to include

; and, early in 1953, her calls at Central Pacific ports were made en route to the Far East. During the spring of that year, she resumed non-stop runs to Japan and Korea.

Vietnam operations

After the truce agreement in July 1953, ''Sgt. Andrew Miller'' continued runs to Japan and Korea and to the islands of the central and northern Pacific. In the summer of 1954, she was called on to assist in

Operation Passage to Freedom Operation Passage to Freedom was a term used by the United States Navy to describe the propaganda effort and the assistance in transporting in 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the French Army from communist N ...

which moved

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

ese from Haiphong to

Saigon , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

following the division of the former French colony. Following one run, she resumed her transpacific operations and expanded her range to include ports in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

; in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

, and in the Philippine Islands. During the late 1950s and into the 1960s, she occasionally interrupted her Pacific operations for brief periods of service on

transatlantic Transatlantic, Trans-Atlantic or TransAtlantic may refer to: Film * Transatlantic Pictures, a film production company from 1948 to 1950 * Transatlantic Enterprises, an American production company in the late 1970s * ''Transatlantic'' (1931 film), ...

runs; but, into the fall of 1974, she remains in the Pacific in the

Military Sealift Command Military Sealift Command (MSC) is an organization that controls the replenishment and military transport ships of the United States Navy. Military Sealift Command has the responsibility for providing sealift and ocean transportation for all US m ...

(MSC) fleet. During the Fall of Saigon she participated in the MSC evacuation operation conducted concurrently with Operation Frequent Wind taking onboard 6148 refugees.

Decommissioning

The ship was decommissioned at an unknown date and struck from the

Navy List A Navy Directory, formerly the Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval author ...

on 16 January 1981. She was returned to the

U.S. Maritime Administration The United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) is an agency of the United States Department of Transportation. MARAD administers financial programs to develop, promote, and operate the U.S. Maritime Service and the U.S. Merchant Marine. De ...

on 18 February 1983. She was scrapped in November 1983.

Honors and awards

Eligible on-board personnel were authorized the following: :* National Defense Service Medal :* Korean Service Medal :* Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal - ( Operation Frequent Wind) :* Vietnam Service Medal (1) :*

United Nations Service Medal The United Nations Service Medal for Korea (UNKM) is an international military decoration established by the United Nations on December 12, 1950 as the United Nations Service Medal. The decoration was the first international award ever created by t ...

:* Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal :*

Republic of Korea War Service Medal The Korean War Service Medal (KWSM, ko, 6.25사변종군기장, ), also known as the Republic of Korea War Service Medal (ROKWSM), is a military award of South Korea which was first authorized in December 1950. History 6.25 Incident Participati ...

References

*
NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive - T-AK-242 Sgt. Andrew Miller
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sgt. Andrew Miller (T-AK-242) Victory ships Ships built in Richmond, California 1945 ships World War II merchant ships of the United States Ships of the United States Army Boulder Victory-class cargo ships Korean War auxiliary ships of the United States Vietnam War auxiliary ships of the United States James River Reserve Fleet