Private Francis X. McGraw AK-241

Private Francis X. McGraw


(AK-241: dp. 15,199 (f.); 1. 455'3"; b. 62'1"; dr. 29'2", s.
15.5 k.; cpl. 24; cl. Boulder Victory; T. VC2-S-AP2)

Private Franci.s X. McGraw was laid down as Wabash Victory (MCV hull 796) by the California Shipbuilding Corp., I,os Angeles, Calif.; launched 6 September 1945, sponsored by Mrs. A. Easterbrook; and delivered to the Maritime Commission 7 June 1945.

Operated by the Interocean S.S. Co., under General Agency Agreement, Wabash Victory carried cargo and passengers to Eniwetok, Ulithi, and Okinawa and, from there back to the west coast between 8 August and 3 November l9i5. Employed along the Oregon and California coasts for the next four months, she transited the Panama Canal in mid-March 1946, then headed across the Atlantic to France. On the 28th, she arrived at Le Havre to begin transporting men and equipment between Europe and the United States. Two and a half months later, on 14 June 1946, she was transferred to the War Department but continued her transatlantic runs as an Army transport.

Renamed Private Francis X. McOraw, 31 October 1947, the victory ship remained a unit of the Army Transportation Service until 1 March 1950. Then returned to the Maritime Commission, she was simultaneously transferred to the Navy, given the designation T-AK-241, and assigned to the newly formed Military Sea Transportation Service. Since that time, Private Francis X. McGraw, manned by a Givil service crew, has carried supplies and equipment to "far flung" ports for MSTS, Atlantic. Although primarily rotated between Caribbean, North Sea, and Mediterranean runs, she has when necessary, and particularly from the mid1960's into 1970, been diverted from such assignments to carry cargo to Pacific ports.