General C. C. Ballou, (AP-157) was launched 7 March 1945 under Maritime Commission contract (MC #714) by Kaiser Co., Inc., Yard 3, Richmond, California; sponsored by Mrs. Harry J. Bernat; acquired by the Navy 20 May 1945; and commissioned 30 June 1945.
Following shakedown off San Diego, General C. C. Ballou departed San Pedro 29 July 1945 for France via the Panama Canal. She arrived Marseilles after the Japanese surrender, and sailed with returning veterans 23 August bound for Hampton Roads. Then after two round-trip voyages to India and back to New York with returning soldiers and sailors, the ship sailed 13 January 1946 for a voyage that was to take her around the world visiting Calcutta, Manila, and other ports before mooring at San Francisco 8 March with over 3,000 troops. General C. C. Ballou completed her voyage by transiting the Panama Canal, arriving New York via San Juan, Puerto Rico 1 May. The transport decommissioned at Hoboken, New Jersey, 17 May, was returned to the Maritime Commission, and eventually served as a transport for Army Transportation Service.
On 5 April 1949, USAT General C. C. Ballou departed Naples with 859 displaced persons from Europe for resettlement in Australia arriving 29 April 1949 at Melbourne.[2] The General C. C. Ballou departed Europe and arrived at Pier 21 in Halifax on December 24, 1949, and thrice thereafter between 1950 and 1951.[3] She completed another voyage to Sydney on 23 March 1950 with 1266 more refugees.[4]
General C. C. Ballou was reacquired by the Navy 1 March 1950 for MSTS and for nearly 2 years sailed between Europe and the United States with refugees. Beginning in 1952, the ship began transporting troops from the West Coast to Korea to serve in the Korean War. Following the armistice, General C. C. Ballou continued to sail to Japan and Korea on troop rotation duty. She was placed out of service in September 1954 and placed in reserve at Orange, Texas. Later delivered to the Maritime Commission National Defense Reserve Fleet at Beaumont, Texas, she was struck from the Navy List 1 July 1960, and remained in reserve until sold for commercial use under the MARAD Ship Exchange Program in 1968[5] to Sea-Land Service, Inc. of Wilmington, Delaware.[1]
The ship was rebuilt as an 11,369 gross ton container ship by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation Ship Repair Yard in Hoboken, New Jersey after being gutted by the Alabama Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. and renamed SS Brooklyn, USCG ON 513557, IMO 6903149. In 1975 the ship was sold to Navieras de Puerto Rico, also known as the Puerto Rico Maritime Shipping Authority and renamed SS Humacao. Eastern Star Maritime Ltd. of Panama renamed her Eastern Light when it purchased her in 1981. Eastern Light left Kobe, Japan on 24 December 1981 to steam to Kaohsiung, Taiwan where she was scrapped.[1][6][7]
General C. C. Ballou received five battle stars for Korean War service.
