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The SS General Le Roy Eltinge was one of a class of 30 ships, classified as C4-S-A1. They were 523 ft in length x 71.2 ft beam, 10,654 gross tons, turbine engines located aft, 17 knots and with accommodation for up to 3,000 troups and a crew of 256.
Built by Kaiser, Richmond/CA yard, she was launched on Sept 20, 1944 and comissioned on Feb 21, 1945 for the US Navy as AP 154. She sailed from San Diego on her maiden voyage to Calcutta on March 23 and in June 1946 was handed over to the US Army, refitted to 13,100 gross tons.
She made five voyages from Germany to the USA with displaced persons and in 1950 was returned to the US Navy for Military Sea Transportation Service and numbered T-AP 154.
On Sept. 17, 1968 she went to the Maritime Administration and was laid up until Jan 1969 when she was sold to Waterman Carriers Inc. of New York, and was rebuilt as a 10,562 ton container vessel by Albina E&M Works, Portland. She was renamed "Robert E. Lee" and entered commercial service in Dec. 1969. In Sept 1973 she was again renamed " Robert Toombs." She was scrapped at Kaohsiung, Taiwan in April 1980.
[Great Passenger Ships of the World Vol. 4, 1936-1950, by Arnold Kludas]
Displaced Persons coming to America under IRO transport leader, Escort Officer A. Hansen (Norwegian).
Passengers on voyage May 7, 1949 from US Zone, French Zone and Austria:
363 men, 304 women 162 children = 829 total displaced persons on voyage to Boston from Bremen, Germany. It was a 10 day trip. Excepts here are from the ship newspaper 'Across the Atlantic'.
Nationalities of these 829 persons:
Ukrainian / Polish 355
German 7
Lithuanian 149
Letten 65
Stateless 162
Estonia 53
Romanian 4
Yugoslavian 17
Hungarian 15
Greek 2
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