Please report any broken links or trouble you might come across to the Webmaster. Please take a moment to let us know so that we can correct any problems and make your visit as enjoyable and as informative as possible.

NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USNS Marine Serpent (T-AP-202)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - National Defense Service Medal
Bottom Row - Korean Service Medal (3) - United Nations Service Medal - Republic of Korea War Service Medal (retroactive)

Marine Adder Class Transport:

Laid down, 30 November 1944, as a Maritime Commission type (C4-S-A3) hull under Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 2360) at Kaiser Shipbuilding Corp, Vancouver, WA.

Launched, 12 June 1945

Delivered to the Maritime Commission, 21 September 1945, for charter to United Fruit Co., at Portland, OR.

Chartered to American President Lines, 22 November 1946, at San Francisco, CA.

Returned to the Maritime Commission in July 1947 for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Suisun Bay, Benecia, CA.

Acquired by the Navy, 8 May 1952 and placed in service by the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) as USNS Marine Serpent (T-AP-202)

During the Korean War Marine Serpent participated in the following campaigns:

Campaign and Dates	Campaign and Dates
Korean War Campaigns
Korean Defense Summer-Fall 1952 4 to 5 October 1952 17to 18 November 1952	Korean Summer-Fall 1953 19 May 1953 24 May to 3 June 1953
Third Korean Winter 31 December 1952 to 1 January 1953 17 to 18 February 1953 5 to 6 April 1953 11 to 12 April 1953	.

Placed out of service, struck from the Naval Register, and transferred to the Maritime Administration for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Olympia, WA., 17 August 1955

Marine Serpent earned three battle stars for Korean service

Sold for commercial service to Sea Land Service Inc., 16 July 1968, renamed SS Galveston

Converted to a containership by Todd Shipyards, Galveston, TX. in 1968

Final Disposition, scrapped at Taiwan in November 1987

Specifications:
Displacement 6,720 t.(lt) 10,210 t.(fl)
Length 524'
Beam 72'
Draft 26'
Speed 17 kts.
Complement unknown
Troop Accommodations 3,451
Armament none
Propulsion steam turbine, single propeller, 13,750shp

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Contributed By
SS Marine Serpent - WSA Contract
	361k	SS Marine Serpent operating under a War Shipping Administration (WSA) contract arriving at San Francisco, CA., 10 February 1947. *Marine Serpent* left Guam, and Saipan with ASF Troops aboard. Some of the Army units aboard had been assigned to ships radiation and decontamination operations following Operation Cross Roads Atomic Test in 1946.	Linda Akers (Her Dad was one of the returning soldiers aboard the ship on this voyage)
	576k	Cover and two sections of the Official Deck Log for SS Marine Serpent	Linda Akers
	940k
	1375k
USNS Marine Serpent (T-AP-202)
	50k	*USNS Marine Serpent* (T-AP-202)** arriving at a US port (probably US Army Port of Embarkation, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA.) with returning Vietnam War veterans, 4 June 1965.	Gregory C. Price STG1, USN Ret.
092220210	131k	*USNS Marine Serpent* (T-AP-202)** arriving/departing Seatle, WA., circa 1950s with GIs. FLICKR submitted by Tom Brandt	John Spivey
0919062147	1275k	*USNS Marine Serpent* (T-AP-202)** in the harbor at Haiphong, French Indochina, where she arrived 20 January, 1955. During the next 4 months she operated along the coast of Indochina transporting Vietnamese refugees from the Communist dominated North to a new life of freedom in the South. In addition she evacuated French troops and military equipment southward to ports such as Saigon and Tourane. Photos by LTjg Carl Berry Moseley USS Taluga (AO-62), 1954-1957.	Gaelynn M. Thurman for her father LTjg. Carl. B. Moseley USS Taluga (AO-62), 1954-1957.
0919062148	1210k
0919062149	1303k
0919062150	1235k
	220k	*USNS Marine Serpent* (T-AP-202)** arriving at a US port (probably US Army Port of Embarkation, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA.) with returning Vietnam War veterans, 4 June 1965.	Gregory C. Price STG1, USN Ret.
	239k	*USNS Marine Serpent* (T-AP-202)** arriving at a US port (probably US Army Port of Embarkation, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA.) with returning Vietnam War veterans, 4 June 1965.	Gregory C. Price STG1, USN Ret.
Commercial Service
	67k	ex-Marine Serpent (T-AP-202) in commercial service as the Sea-Land container ship SS Galveston underway on the River Weser, Germany, while departing Bremen, Germany, July 1969.	Photo by Gerhard Mueller-Debus
	53k	SS Galveston off Bremerhaven, Germany, heading out to sea, March 1970.	Photo by Gerhard Mueller-Debus